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Artistic young Jess Aarons deals with the hardships of his home life, such as his duties on his family's farm and the annoyances of his four sisters. Leslie Burke is an intelligent, wealthy girl who has just moved down the road from him. After Jess trains all summer to become his class's fastest runner, he becomes infuriated when Leslie outruns him in a recess footrace. Jess eagerly anticipates the arrival of music class due to his infatuation for its beautiful and kind young teacher, Miss Edmunds. On the day class begins, however, he discovers a fondness for Leslie, and they develop a friendship. One day, Jess and Leslie use a rope to swing over a creek near their homes, and they design an imaginary sanctuary. They reign as monarchs, calling their domain "Terabithia." At school, Jess and Leslie are challenged by an older bully named Janice Avery. After Janice steals a package of Twinkies from the lunch of Jess' younger sister May Belle, Jess and Leslie forge a romantic letter pretending to be Willard Hughes, a boy Janice likes, setting her up for humiliation. The plan is successful, and Janice is publicly embarrassed. Later, when Leslie encounters Janice sobbing in the girls' bathroom, it is revealed that Janice's father beats her, explaining her difficulty relating to other people. Jess and Leslie develop sympathy for Janice, and a compassionate friendship develops between the three of them. One day, as Jess complains about having to go to church for Easter with his family, Leslie asks if she can join him. After the mass, Leslie inquires what happens if you don't believe in God. May Belle claims that "He will damn you to hell." Invited on a trip to an art museum with Miss Edmunds, Jess accepts the offer without notifying Leslie or his parents. Returning home, he is horrified to learn that while he was away, Leslie attempted to visit Terabithia on her own and drowned in the creek when the rope broke and she hit her head on a rock. It is implied that Jess is terrified that Leslie may be sentenced to eternal damnation due to her doubts regarding religion. After Jess accepts the inevitability of Leslie's death, he is saddened by the grief exhibited by her mourning parents, who have decided to return to their previous home in Pennsylvania. Jess pays tribute to Leslie by crafting a funeral wreath, bending a pine bough into a circle. Leaving it in their special pine grove in Terabithia, he discovers a terrified May Belle halfway across the creek and assists her back. He chooses to fill the void left by Leslie's death by making May Belle the new Queen of Terabithia. Then he tells her to keep her "mind wide open" as the inhabitants of Terabithia welcome their new ruler. 

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An unnamed stranger arrives at the little town of San Miguel, on the Mexico–United States border. Silvanito, the town's innkeeper, tells the Stranger about a feud between two smuggler families vying to gain control of the town: the Rojo brothers (Don Miguel, Esteban and Ramón), and the family comprising town sheriff John Baxter, his matriarchal wife Consuelo, and their son Antonio. The Stranger (in order to make money) decides to play these families against each other. He demonstrates his speed and accuracy with his gun, to both sides, by shooting with ease the four men who insulted him as he entered town. The Stranger seizes an opportunity when he sees the Rojos massacre a detachment of Mexican soldiers who were escorting a chest of gold (which they had planned to exchange for a shipment of new rifles). He takes two of the dead bodies to a nearby cemetery and sells information to each of two groups, saying that two Mexican soldiers survived the attack. Each faction races to the cemetery, the Baxters to get the supposed survivors to testify against the Rojos and the Rojos to silence them, and engage in a gunfight, with Ramón pretending to kill the supposed survivors, and Esteban capturing Antonio Baxter. The Stranger then tells Marisol to go to Ramón, and Julio to take Jesús home. He learns from Silvanito that Ramón had "framed" Julio as cheating during a card game, and taken Marisol as a prisoner living with him. That night, while the Rojos are celebrating, the Stranger rides out and frees Marisol, shooting the guards and wrecking the house in which she is being held, creating an appearance of an attack by the Baxters. He gives running money to Marisol, urging her and her family to leave the town. When the Rojos discover the Stranger has freed Marisol, they capture and torture him; nevertheless, he escapes them. Believing he is protected by the Baxters, the Rojos set fire to the Baxter home, massacring them as they flee the burning building. Ramón kills John and Antonio Baxter, after pretending to spare them. Consuelo, John Baxter's wife, appears and curses the Rojos for killing these unarmed family members; she is shot to death by Esteban. With help from Piripero, the local coffin-maker, the Stranger escapes town, hiding in a coffin. He convalesces within a nearby mine, but when Piripero tells him that Silvanito has been captured, the Stranger returns to town, to confront the Rojos. With a steel chest-plate hidden beneath his poncho, he taunts Ramón to "aim for the heart" as Ramón's shots bounce off, and Ramón exhausts his Winchester rifle. The Stranger shoots that weapon from Ramón's hand and kills Don Miguel, Rubio and the other Rojo men standing nearby. He then uses the last bullet in his gun to free Silvanito, tied hanging from a post. After challenging Ramón to reload his rifle, faster than he can reload his own revolver, the Stranger shoots and kills Ramón. Esteban Rojo aims for the Stranger's back from a nearby building, but is shot dead by Silvanito. The Stranger bids farewell, and rides away from the town in the film's last shot. 

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The story elaborates on what is told of these characters in the published Silmarillion, starting with the childhood of Túrin, continuing through the captivity of his father in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, and Túrin's exile in Doriath, to Túrin's time in Nargothrond, his incestuous relationship with his sister Nienor, and ultimately ending with suicide by his sword after killing the dragon who caused much of his problems. As a point of reference regarding the names of the main characters: In this story, Túrin renames himself Turambar, meaning Master of Doom in the High-elven speech, with a vow to turn aside from the darkness that has ruled his early life. His sister Nienor is also called Níniel, meaning Maid of Tears. She is renamed by Turambar himself after he finds her alone and in distress in the woods. Only much later does he learn her real name and origin. The story has some inconsistencies when compared with The Silmarillion, and at points there are gaps and multiple versions: this is because Tolkien never finished the story during his lifetime, and his son Christopher had to choose from all the work to create a consistent narrative for The Silmarillion. The story of the Narn continues in the Later Narn, which is also published in Unfinished Tales, and in The Wanderings of Húrin, a text which was different in style from the rest of The Silmarillion, but which continues the Narn past Túrin's death with Húrin's eventual release and the bad deeds which result from that. This story was published in The War of the Jewels, a part of the series The History of Middle-earth. 

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In the 1890s, the man many call Manco is a bounty hunter, a profession shared by a former army officer, Colonel Douglas Mortimer. Eventually, the two learn that a ruthless, cold-blooded bank robber, "El Indio," has been broken out of prison by his gang, slaughtering all but one of his jailers. While murdering the family of the man who captured him, Indio carries a musical pocketwatch that he had taken from a young woman, who had shot herself as he was raping her, after he had murdered her husband. The incident has haunted Indio, and he smokes an addictive drug to cloud his memory. Indio plans to rob the Bank of El Paso, which has a disguised safe containing "almost a million dollars." Manco arrives in the town and becomes aware of Mortimer, who arrived earlier. He sees Mortimer deliberately insult the hunchback Wild, who is reconnoitering the bank. Manco confronts Mortimer after the two have studied each other, and they decide to work together as neither intends to back down. Mortimer persuades Manco to join Indio's gang and "get him between two fires." Manco achieves this by freeing a friend of Indio's from prison despite Indio's suspicions. Indio sends Manco and three others to rob the bank in nearby Santa Cruz. Manco guns down the three bandits and sends a false telegraphic alarm to rouse the El Paso sheriff and his posse, who ride to Santa Cruz. The gang blast the wall at the rear of the El Paso bank and steal the safe, but are unable to open it. Groggy is angry when Manco is the only one to return from Santa Cruz, but Indio accepts Manco's version of events thanks to Mortimer having given Manco a convincing wound. The gang rides to the small border town of Agua Caliente where Mortimer, who anticipated their destination, is waiting. Wild recognises Mortimer, forcing a showdown that results in the hunchback's death before Mortimer offers his services to Indio to crack open the safe without using explosives. Indio locks the money in a strongbox and says that the loot will be divided after a month. Manco and Mortimer break into the strongbox and hide the money, only to be caught immediately afterwards and beaten up. Mortimer has secured the strongbox lock, however, and Indio believes that the money is still there. Later that night, Indio has his lieutenant, Niño, kill the guard stationed to guard Manco and Mortimer with a knife belonging to Cuchillo. Once Niño has freed the prisoners, Indio reveals that he knew they are bounty hunters and executes Cuchillo to make it appear he betrayed the gang, while sending his men after Manco and Mortimer in hopes they would all kill each other so that he can split the money just between Niño and himself. But Groggy realizes the scheme and forces Indio to open the strong box after killing Niño, only for the two to find it empty. Eventually, after he and Manco kill the bandits, Mortimer calls out Indio while revealing his full name. Mortimer shoots Groggy as he runs for cover, but is disarmed by Indio, who plays the pocketwatch while challenging the bounty hunter to regain his weapon and kill him when the music ends. But as the music ends, the same tune begins from an identical pocketwatch which Manco has pilfered from Mortimer. Manco gives his own gunbelt and pistol to Mortimer, saying: "Now we start." When the music ends, Mortimer shoots first, killing Indio. Mortimer retrieves his sister's watch from Indio's hand and Manco remarks on Mortimer's resemblance to the woman in the photographs. Mortimer reveals himself as her brother and, with his revenge complete, declines his share of the bounty and leaves. Manco tosses the bodies of Indio and his men into a wagon, finally adding Groggy's body after killing him, and rides off to collect the bounties on them all, briefly pausing to recover the stolen money from its hiding place. 

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Three thugs enter a Chinese wayang theater, looking for a marked man. The proprietors slip into a hidden opium den and warn a man named "Noodles", but he pays no attention. In a flashback, Noodles observes police removing three disfigured corpses from a street. Although he kills one of the thugs pursuing him, Noodles learns they have murdered Eve, his girlfriend, and that his money has been stolen, so he leaves the city. David "Noodles" Aaronson struggles as a street kid in a neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1918. He and his friends Patrick "Patsy" Goldberg, Philip "Cockeye" Stein and Dominic commit petty crimes under the supervision of local boss, Bugsy. Planning to rob a drunk as a truck hides them from a police officer, they're foiled by Maximillian "Max" Bercovicz, who jumps off the truck to rob the man himself. Noodles confronts Max, but a crooked police officer steals the watch that they are fighting over. Later, Max blackmails the police officer, who is having sex with Peggy, a young girl and Noodles' neighbor. Max, Noodles, Patsy, Dominic and Cockeye start their own gang, independent of Bugsy, who had previously enjoyed the police officer's protection. The boys stash half their money in a suitcase, which they hide in a locker at the railway station, giving the key to "Fat" Moe Gelly, a reliable friend who is not part of the operation. Noodles is in love with Fat Moe's sister, Deborah, an aspiring dancer and actress. After the gang has some success, Bugsy ambushes the boys and shoots Dominic, who dies in Noodles' arms. In a rage, Noodles stabs Bugsy and severely injures a police officer. He is arrested and sentenced to prison. Noodles is released from jail in 1930 and is reunited with his old gang, who are now major bootleggers during Prohibition. Noodles also reunites with Deborah, seeking to rekindle their relationship. During a robbery, the gang meet Carol, who later on becomes Max's girlfriend. The gang prospers from bootlegging, while also providing muscle for union boss Jimmy Conway O'Donnell. Noodles tries to impress Deborah on an extravagant date, but then rapes her after she declines his marriage proposal, as she intends to pursue a career in Hollywood. Noodles goes to the train station looking for Deborah, but when she spots him from her train seat, she simply closes the blind. The gang's financial success ends with the 1933 repeal of Prohibition. Max suggests joining the Teamsters' union, as muscle, but Noodles refuses. Max acquiesces and they go to Florida, with Carol and Eve, for a vacation. While there, Max suggests robbing the New York Federal Reserve Bank, but Noodles regards it as a suicide mission. Carol, who also fears for Max's life, convinces Noodles to inform the police about a lesser offense, so the four friends will safely serve a brief ("probably one year") jail sentence. Minutes after calling the police, Max knocks Noodles unconscious during an argument. Regaining consciousness, Noodles finds out that Max, Patsy, and Cockeye have been killed by the police, and is consumed with guilt over making the phone call. Noodles retrieves the suitcase in which the gang had stored their money, now finding it empty. With his friends killed, and himself hunted, a despondent Noodles then boards the first bus leaving New York, going to Buffalo, to live under a false identity, Robert Williams. In 1968, Noodles receives a letter informing him that the cemetery where his friends are buried is being redeveloped, asking him to make arrangements for their reburial. Realizing that someone has deduced his identity, Noodles returns to Manhattan, and stays with Fat Moe above his restaurant. While visiting the cemetery, Noodles finds a key to the railway locker once kept by the gang. Opening the locker, he finds a suitcase full of money but with a note stating that the cash is a down-payment on his next job. Noodles hears about a corruption scandal and assassination attempt on U.S. Secretary of Commerce Christopher Bailey, an embattled political figure, mentioned in a news report. Noodles visits Carol, who lives at a retirement home run by the Bailey Foundation. She tells him that Max planted the idea of Carol and Noodles tipping him off to the police, because he wanted to die rather than go insane like his father, who died in an asylum; Max opened fire on the police to ensure his own death. While at the retirement home, Noodles sees a photo of Deborah at the institution's dedication. Noodles tracks down Deborah, still an actress. He questions her about Secretary Bailey, telling her about his invitation to a party at Bailey's mansion. Deborah claims not to know who Bailey is and begs Noodles to leave via the back exit, as Bailey's son is waiting for her at the main door. Ignoring Deborah's advice, Noodles sees Bailey's son David, who is named after Noodles and bears a strong resemblance to Max as a young man. Thus, Noodles realizes that Max is alive and living as Bailey. Noodles meets with Max in his private study during the party. Max explains that corrupt police officers helped him fake his own death, so that he could steal the gang's money and make Deborah his mistress in order to begin a new life as Bailey, a man with connections to the Teamsters' union, connections that have now gone sour. Now faced with ruin and the specter of a Teamster assassination, Max asks Noodles to kill him, having tracked him down and sent the invitation. Noodles, obstinately referring to him by his Secretary Bailey identity, refuses because, in his eyes, Max died with the gang. As Noodles leaves Max's estate, he hears a garbage truck start up and looks back to see Max standing at his driveway's gated entrance. As he begins to walk towards Noodles, the truck passes between them. Noodles sees the truck's auger grinding down rubbish, but Max is nowhere to be seen. The end returns to the opening scene in 1933, with Noodles entering the opium den after his friends' deaths, taking the drug and broadly grinning. 

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In Azusa, California in 1978, Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis (Eric Stoltz), who has craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, is accepted without question by those who know and love him: the boyfriends of his freewheeling biker mother, particularly Gar (Sam Elliott); his "extended motorcycle family"; and his maternal grandparents Abe and Evelyn Steinberg (Richard Dysart and Estelle Getty), respectively, and with whom Abe shares his love of baseball card collecting. However, many others fail to see his humanity, intelligence and humor and thus respond to his unusual appearance with fear, pity, awkwardness, and uncertainty. Rocky's mother, Florence "Rusty" Dennis (Cher), is determined to give Rocky as normal a life as possible, in spite of her own wild ways as a member of the Turks biker club, as well as her strained relationship with her parents. She fights for Rocky's inclusion in a mainstream junior high school and confronts a principal who would rather relegate him to a special education school, despite the fact that his condition hasn't affected his intelligence. They then go to the doctor for Rocky's semi-annual physical, where Rocky claims to be feeling well, despite continuing headaches, which his mother can sing away without medicine. A young doctor tells Rusty that Rocky will probably not live for more than six months. Rusty scoffs at this claim, as doctors previously made failed predictions that Rocky would be blind and suffer other maladies. Rocky goes on to thrive at school. He wins friends by assisting a fellow student with remembering his locker combination. Using humor when faced with an awkward silence during roll call, Rocky just repeats the prior new student's line, "Wow, thanks a lot." The class turns to smile and laugh with Rocky. He entertains his history class by giving a rendition of the story of the Trojan Horse and it being the turning point of the Trojan War. Gradually overcoming discrimination and tutoring his classmates for $3 per hour, Rocky is asked by the principal to accept a job as a counselor's aide at Camp Bloomfield, a summer camp for blind children. Unsure, he declines the invitation, but says he'll think about it. Rocky tells his mother that he needs a suit to go to his graduation. He is dismissed by the Turks and Gar tells him to bring a beer from the refrigerator. To his surprise, Rocky finds a suit inside, which he gladly thanks everybody for. At his graduation from junior high, Rocky takes home academic achievement prizes in math, science, English, and history. Dozer, a biker who loves Rocky and has a thick stammer, tells Rocky that he is proud of his achievements. After a visit from Rocky's grandparents, where Rocky's grandfather continuously puts Rusty down, they take Rocky to a baseball game. They return to find Rusty in a drug-induced stupor. Afterwards, Rocky feels the need to get away from his mother, to help her break her drug habit, and accepts the job as the counselor's aid. At camp, Rocky falls in love with Diana Adams (Laura Dern), a blind girl who cannot see his deformed skull and is entranced by Rocky's kindness and compassion. Rocky uses his intelligence to explain to Diana words like "billowy", "clouds", "red", "green", and "blue" by using cotton balls as a touchable vision of "billowy clouds", a warm rock to explain "red" and "pink", and a frozen rock to explain "icy blue." Diana introduces Rocky to her parents, who are put-off by Rocky's appearance, and do not want Diana to spend time with him. Near the end of the film, Rocky faces the pain of separation from the two people to whom he feels closest. His dream of a motorbike trip through Europe collapses when his best friend Ben (Lawrence Monoson), who was to come with him, tells him that he is dropping out of school and moving back to Michigan "for good." This drives Rocky into berating Ben and calling him "stupid". However, Rocky feels better after taking a bus trip by himself to visit Diana at the equestrian stables, located near Griffith Park. They share a romantic moment, and Diana tells Rocky that her mother prevented her from receiving his phone messages. But then, she reveals that she is going away immediately to a private school for the blind, and cannot be with him. To add to this, a member of his biker family, Red, passes away (presumably from cancer). Also, he attends high school, where none of his friends are, and where he used to respond to taunts with wit and humor, he responds to a boy by pushing him against a locker and calling him a son-of-a-bitch. One evening when Rocky's "biker family" is visiting, Rocky is fighting a fierce headache and quietly withdraws to his room, removes the tacks from his wall map of Europe, and goes to bed. The next morning, Rusty tries to wake up Rocky for school and flies into a fit of grief-stricken rage when she realizes he has died. After destroying the kitchen, Rusty mourns the death of Rocky and says "Now you can go anywhere you want, baby." She then re-pins his map of Europe. The movie ends with Rusty, Gar, and Dozer visiting his grave, leaving flowers and some baseball cards by his headstone and a voice-over by Rocky himself, who recites the poem he wrote for English class earlier in the film. 

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The game features the return of Wario's nemesis, Captain Syrup. Early one morning, she and a few of her soldiers, the Pirate Gooms , sneak into Wario's castle and cause havoc. They steal his precious treasure , set off his giant alarm clock, and leave the tap running, flooding much of his castle. After Wario wakes up and figures out what's going on, he gives chase across the surrounding lands. 

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One day, Wario's plane stalls and crashes while he is flying over the woods. Uninjured, he spends the rest of his afternoon wandering amongst the trees and underbrush until he stumbles upon a mysterious cave. Inside the cave, he discovers a magical music box and is suddenly sucked into it. There, a mysterious figure informs Wario that he had once ruled the world inside the music box, until an evil being sealed away his magical powers in five music boxes. In exchange for freeing it, the being promises to send Wario back to his own world and let him keep any treasure he finds. Enticed by the thought of returning to his own world with a cache of treasure, Wario departs on his quest, in search of the music boxes and the many treasures of this mysterious land. After collecting all the music boxes, Wario returns to the mysterious being's temple. The music boxes play a medley together that frees the being, revealed to be Rudy the Clown. It transpires that Rudy is in fact the villain and had been imprisoned, although not before turning the music box's inhabitants into monsters, who had been attacking Wario simply to try to stop him from freeing the evil clown. After Wario defeats Rudy, he is met by the inhabitants of the music box, now restored to their former selves. They thank Wario and transport him back to his own world, along with the treasure that he has collected, as promised. 

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Wario is reading the newspaper when he notices an article about a mysterious pyramid found deep in the jungle. The legend related to the pyramid is that of Princess Shokora, ruler of the pyramid, who was cursed by the money-crazed Golden Diva. Without wasting time and forgetting to take his mid-morning nap, Wario jumps into his Wario Car and drives to the pyramid. As he enters it, he finds a black cat and chases it. Doing so, he falls down a precipice and is stuck inside the pyramid. After fighting his way through the entry passage and an early boss battle against Spoiled Rotten, Wario discovers four new passages. After completing these passages, Wario gains access to the innermost part of the pyramid, which ends up being the stronghold of Golden Diva. Wario meets the cat again, who turns out to be Princess Shokora herself. Wario defeats Golden Diva and exits the pyramid with all his treasure. What form Shokora returns to depends on the number of treasure chests Wario had acquired from the other bosses prior as well as how quickly the Golden Diva is defeated (this can range from a brattish child, a female version of Wario, a Peach-like princess and ultimately, a superheroine-like princess). Shokora gives Wario a kiss on the cheek and ascends to the afterlife as Wario watches. After she leaves, Wario grabs his loot and celebrates by going to an all-you-can eat steak buffet. 

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The game begins with Wario enjoying his newly built castle, which is filled with treasures that he has collected from earlier adventures. An evil gem called Black Jewel, hidden amongst Wario's treasure collection, suddenly awakens and takes over Wario's castle. Black Jewel turns Wario's treasure into monsters, and transforms the castle into four worlds called Excitement Central, Spooktastic World, Thrillsville and Sparkle Land, each consisting of two levels and a boss fight. A central area allows access to the different worlds, as well as to the Treasure Square, where the Huge Treasure Box inside of which Black Jewel is hiding can be found. Wario proceeds through the areas controlled by Black Jewel, recovering his treasure and rescuing Spritelings (the creatures had sealed Black Jewel away in the past), then obtains the key to the Huge Treasure Box and engages Black Jewel in a battle. Wario's subsequent victory allows him to regain control of his castle. During the game's ending, Wario's new castle quality depends on the number of Spritelings rescued. The worst-case scenario sees Wario with nothing but a campsite with his throne in a dark jungle, but if all 40 Spritelings were rescued, Wario is given a palace even grander than his previous one. 

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Outside of Cairo, Okra (Akim Tamiroff), using a bikini-clad accomplice (Maria Grazia Buccella) as a distraction, hijacks $3 million in gold bullion. The thieves need a way to smuggle the two tons of gold bars into Europe. There are only four master criminals considered capable of smuggling the gold, but each is ruled out: a Frenchman is so crippled he can barely move his wheelchair; an Irishman is so nearsighted he is arrested trying to hold up a police station instead of a bank; a German is so fat he can barely get through a door to escape; and an Italian, Aldo Vanucci (Peter Sellers), a master of disguise known as The Fox, is in prison. Vanucci knows about the smuggling contract but is reluctant to accept it because he does not want to disgrace his mother and young sister, Gina (Britt Ekland). When his three sidekicks inform him that Gina has grown up and does not always come home after school, an enraged, over-protective Vanucci vows to escape. He impersonates the prison doctor and convinces the guards that Vanucci has tied him up in his cell and escaped. The guards capture the doctor and bring him face to face with Vanucci, who flees with the aid of his gang. Vanucci returns home where his mother tells him that Gina is working on the Via Veneto. He takes this to mean that Gina is a prostitute. Disguised as a priest, Aldo watches Gina, provocatively dressed, flirt with and kiss a fat, middle-aged man. Aldo attacks the man, but Gina, who aspires to be a movie star, is merely acting in a low-budget film. Aldo's actions cost her the job. Aldo realizes that the smuggling operation will improve his family's life. He makes contact with Okra and agrees to smuggle the gold into Italy for half of the take. Two policemen are constantly on Vanucci's trail and he uses disguises and tricks to throw them off. After seeing a crowd mob the over-the-hill American matinee idol Tony Powell (Victor Mature), it strikes Vanucci that movie stars and film crews are idolized and have free rein in society. This insight forms the basis of his plan. Posing as an Italian neo-realist director named Federico Fabrizi, he intends to bring the gold ashore in broad daylight as part of a scene in an avant-garde film. To give the picture an air of legitimacy, he cons Powell to star in the film, which is blatantly titled The Gold of Cairo (a play on The Gold of Naples, a film De Sica directed in 1954). Powell's agent, Harry (Martin Balsam), is suspicious of Fabrizi, but his vain client wants to do the film. Fabrizi enlists the starstruck population of Sevalio, a tiny fishing village, to unload the shipment. But when the boat carrying the gold is delayed, Fabrizi must actually shoot scenes for his faux film to keep up the ruse. The ship finally arrives and the townspeople unload the gold, but Okra double-crosses Vanucci and, using a movie smoke machine for cover, drives off with the gold. A slapstick car chase ensues, ending with Okra, Vanucci and the police crashing into each other. Vanucci, Tony Powell, Gina, Okra, and the villagers are accused of being co-conspirators and Vanucci's "film" is shown as evidence in court. An Italian film critic leaps to his feet and proclaims the disjointed footage to be a masterpiece. Vanucci suffers a crisis of conscience and confesses his guilt in court, thereby exonerating the villagers, but vows to escape from prison once again. He escapes from prison by impersonating the prison doctor again, this time tying the doctor up in his cell and walking out of the prison in his place. But when he attempts to remove the fake beard part of his disguise, Vanucci discovers the beard is real and exclaims, "Ze wrong man has escaped!" 

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Dr. Frederick Frankenstein is a lecturing physician at an American medical school and engaged to Elizabeth, a socialite. He becomes exasperated when anyone brings up the subject of his grandfather Victor Frankenstein, the infamous mad scientist, and insists that his surname is pronounced "Fronkensteen". When a solicitor informs him that he has inherited his family's estate in Transylvania after the death of his great-grandfather, the Baron Beaufort von Frankenstein, Frederick travels to Europe to inspect the property. At the Transylvania train station, he is met by a hunchbacked, bug- eyed servant named Igor, and a young assistant, Inga. Upon hearing that the professor pronounces his name "Fronkensteen", Igor insists that his name is pronounced "Eyegor", rather than the traditional "Eegor". Upon arrival at the estate, Frederick meets Frau Blücher, the housekeeper. After discovering the secret entrance to his grandfather's laboratory and reading his private journals, Frederick decides to resume his grandfather's experiments in re- animating the dead. He and Igor steal the corpse of a recently executed criminal, and Frederick sets to work experimenting on the large corpse. Igor is sent to steal the brain of a deceased revered historian, Hans Delbrück; startled by his own reflection, he drops and ruins Delbrück's brain. Taking a second brain labeled "Abnormal", Igor returns with it, and Frederick transplants it into the corpse, thinking he has transplanted Delbrück's brain. Soon, Frederick is ready to re-animate his creature, who is eventually brought to life by electrical charges during a lightning storm. The creature takes its first steps, but, frightened by the sight of Igor lighting a match, he attacks Frederick and nearly strangles him before he is sedated. Meanwhile, unaware of the creature's existence, the townspeople gather to discuss their unease at Frederick continuing his grandfather's work. Inspector Kemp, a one-eyed police official with a prosthetic arm, whose German accent is so thick that even his own countrymen cannot understand him, proposes to visit the doctor, whereupon he demands assurance that Frankenstein will not create another monster. On returning to the lab, Frederick discovers Blücher setting the creature free. She reveals the monster's love of violin music and her own romantic relationship with Frederick's grandfather. However, the creature is enraged by sparks from a thrown switch and escapes the castle. While roaming the countryside, the monster has encounters with a young girl and a blind hermit, references to 1931's Frankenstein and 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, respectively. Frederick recaptures the monster and locks the two of them in a room, where he calms the monster's homicidal tendencies with flattery and fully acknowledges his own heritage, shouting out, "My name is Frankenstein!" At a theater full of illustrious guests, Frederick shows "The Creature", dressed in top hat and tails, following simple commands. The demonstration continues with Frederick and the monster performing the musical number "Puttin' On the Ritz". However, the routine ends suddenly when a stage light explodes and frightens the monster, who becomes enraged and charges into the audience, where he is captured and chained by police. Back in the laboratory, Inga attempts to comfort Frederick and they wind up sleeping together on the suspended reanimation table. The monster escapes when Frederick's fiancée Elizabeth arrives unexpectedly for a visit, taking her captive as he flees. Elizabeth falls in love with the creature due to his "enormous schwanzstucker". The townspeople hunt for the monster; to get the creature back, Frederick plays the violin to lure his creation back to the castle and recaptures him. Just as the Kemp-led mob storms the laboratory, Frankenstein transfers some of his stabilizing intellect to the creature who, as a result, is able to reason with and placate the mob. Elizabeth—with her hair styled after that of the female creature from the Bride of Frankenstein--marries the now erudite and sophisticated monster, while Inga, in bed with Frederick, asks what her new husband got in return during the transfer procedure. Frederick growls wordlessly and embraces Inga who, as Elizabeth did when abducted by the monster, sings the refrain "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life". 

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The film, is a parody of the historical spectacular film genre anthology, including the sword and sandal epic and the period costume drama subgenres. The four main segments consist of stories set during the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, and the French Revolution. Other intermediate skits include reenactments of the giving of the Ten Commandments and the Last Supper. 

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Arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, Dr. Richard Thorndyke has several odd encounters (such as a flasher impersonating a police officer, and a passing bus with a full orchestra playing inside it). He is taken by his camera-happy driver, Brophy, to the Psycho-Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous, where he has been hired as a replacement for Dr. Ashley, who died mysteriously–Brophy suspects foul play. Upon his arrival, Thorndyke is greeted by the staff, Dr. Charles Montague, Dr. Philip Wentworth, and Nurse Charlotte Diesel. Thorndyke hears strange noises coming from Nurse Diesel's room and he and Brophy go to investigate. Diesel claims it was the TV, but it was actually a passionate session of BDSM with Dr. Montague. The next morning, Thorndyke is alerted by a light shining through his window, coming from the violent ward. Dr. Montague takes Thorndyke to the light's source, the room of patient Arthur Brisbane, who thinks he is a Cocker Spaniel. Wentworth wants to leave the institute and argues with Diesel. After she lets him go, he drives home, but the car has been rigged to blast rock music loudly through the radio. Wentworth is trapped in his car, his ears hemorrhage, and he dies from a stroke, aggravated by the loud music. Thorndyke and Brophy travel to San Francisco, where Thorndyke is to speak at a psychiatric convention. He checks into the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, where, much to his dismay, as he suffers from "high anxiety", he is assigned a room on the top floor, due to a reservation change by "Mr. MacGuffin". He pesters the bellboy with repeated requests for a newspaper, wanting to look in the obituaries for information concerning Dr. Wentworth's demise. He then takes a shower, during which the bellboy comes and in a frenzy mimics stabbing Thorndyke with the paper while screaming "Here's your paper! Happy now?! Happy?" The paper's ink runs down the drain. After his shower, Victoria Brisbane, the daughter of Arthur Brisbane, bursts through the door. She wants help in removing her father from the institute. She says that Nurse Diesel and Dr. Montague are exaggerating the illnesses of wealthy patients so the institute can milk rich families of millions of dollars (through methods demonstrated in an earlier scene). Thorndyke agrees to help after discovering that the patient he met was not the real Arthur Brisbane. To stop Thorndyke, Diesel and Montague hire "Braces", the silver-braced man who organized Dr. Ashley's and Wentworth's murders, to impersonate Thorndyke and shoot a man in the lobby. Now with the police after him, Thorndyke must prove his innocence. After he is attacked by pigeons, he meets up with Victoria, and realizes Brophy took a picture of the shooting. The real Thorndyke was in the elevator at the time, so he should be in the picture. Acting on Thorndyke's behalf, Victoria contacts Brophy and requests him to enlarge the picture. Thorndyke is indeed visible in the picture, but Nurse Diesel and Montague capture Brophy and take him to the North Wing. Meanwhile, "Braces" finds Thorndyke at a phone booth calling Victoria, and tries to strangle him; however, Thorndyke is able to kill him with a shard of glass from the phone booth. Thorndyke and Victoria head back to Los Angeles where they rescue Brophy and see Montague and Diesel taking the real Arthur Brisbane to a tower to kill him. Due to Thorndyke's high anxiety he is prevented from climbing the tower's steep stairs and helping Brisbane. But with the help of Professor Lilloman, he overcomes his phobia. Thorndyke knocks Diesel's orderly out a tower window, saving Brisbane. Nurse Diesel leaps out from the shadows and attacks Thorndyke with a broom, but falls out the tower window. She falls to her death, laughing hysterically and riding the broom. Dr. Montague appears from the shadows and gives up before being accidentally knocked unconscious by a trapdoor being opened. Victoria is reunited with her father, marries Thorndyke, and they go on their honeymoon. 

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Screenshot of the start screen The story is set in the United States of North America, which is similar to the real-world US, in the year 2031. The player controls PRISM, the world's first sentient computer. PRISM is instructed by its creator, Dr. Abraham Perelman, to run a simulation of senator Richard Ryder's "Plan for Renewed National Purpose". This plan is intended to address the nation's failing economy, the high teenage suicide rate, and to strengthen the nation's postition in a nuclear arms race. PRISM simulates the life of a man called Perry Simm, ten years after the plan has gone into place. The player experiences some time in Perry's life. The plan appears to have had positive effects. Based on this simulation, the plan is deemed viable and preparations are set in motion. However, Perelman feels that the ten-year simulation isn't enough, and makes PRISM do a simulation of the situation 20 years after the plan started, and then 30 years. Perelman is concerned by the simulations, but he needs more evidence to discredit the plan, as there are powerful people behind it. PRISM does a 40-year simulation, and with that still not quite satisfying Perelman, a 50-year simulation. The simulations show the situation becoming worse and worse with time. PRISM goes into sleep mode while Perelman is preparing to present the findings to the government. When it wakes up, the facility is locked down by the military. Senator Ryder comes into Perelman's office and starts shouting at him. PRISM starts recording his words. After Ryder has left, suspicious "maintenance workers" come to the facility and make their way to PRISM's core, but PRISM renders them harmless. Then a news interface becomes available, and PRISM broadcasts the recording of Ryder's intimidation. The plan is thoroughly discredited and Senator Ryder is publicly disgraced. 

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Las Noches de Diciembre (Spanish, "The Nights of December") is a small terrorist cell led by rogue newspaper columnist Skip Wiley, calling himself El Fuego. Skip believes that the only way to save Florida's natural beauty from destruction is to violently dissuade tourists from visiting and/or settling in the state. Recruiting three comrades with similar vendettas against the Florida establishment, they begin a spree of flashy kidnappings, murders, and bombings to frighten off new arrivals into the Sunshine State. Their first victim is B.D. "Sparky" Harper, the head of Miami's Chamber of Commerce. Sparky's body is found stuffed into an oversized suitcase, dressed in a garish tourist outfit, smeared with sunscreen, and with his legs amputated. Next, the group starts kidnapping and killing random tourists and Florida residents, many of whom are fed to a giant crocodile nicknamed "Pavlov". Brian Keyes, a private investigator and former reporter for the Miami Sun, is hired to help defend petty burglar Ernesto Cabal, who was caught driving Sparky's stolen car. Brian does not believe that Ernesto killed Sparky, but the Miami police dismiss him. Ernesto commits suicide when told by his own lawyer that the case is a lost cause. Brian is then hired by Nell Bellamy to find her missing husband (the first tourist victim), and by Sun editor Cab Mulcahy to locate the missing Wiley. After an encounter with his ex-girlfriend Jenna (who is now dating Skip), Brian tracks Skip to the Everglades and is captured by Las Noches. Revealing himself, Skip tells Brian to return to Miami and spread the word of the group's demands. He then has Brian watch as their latest victim is fed to Pavlov. Brian tries to stop the murder and is stabbed in the back by one of Skip's followers, a Cuban named Jesús Bernal. He is returned to Miami and treated in the hospital. Since it is the start of the tourist season, the police's initial reaction to Brian's warnings is to engage in a cover-up, dismissing the Las Noches communiques as a hoax. Sun reporter Ricky Bloodworth uncovers the letters and writes an article, but misspells the name of the group as "Las Nachos". The terrorists retaliate by triggering several bombs in public places, forcing the authorities to take them seriously. Brian's old friend, Detective Al Garcia is appointed head of a task force to catch the terrorists. Based on Skip's hints, Brian, Cab, and Al deduce that the terrorists plan to kidnap Miami's much- touted Orange Bowl Queen. Since civic leaders refuse to cancel the Orange Bowl Parade or to provide the beauty queen with visible police protection, Al suggests hiring Brian as her undercover bodyguard. Brian finds the beauty queen, Kara Lynn Shivers, to be an intelligent and sensible girl who is only in the beauty queen "racket" to indulge her father. Brian and Kara Lynn grow closer, eventually developing a relationship. While escorting Kara Lynn home from a tennis game, Brian catches Jesús loitering in the parking lot and beats him into submission with a tennis racket. Furious that Jesús has foiled the group's element of surprise, Skip devises a new plan. Jesús, aching for reinstatement with the anti-Castro terrorist group he was expelled from, abandons Las Noches and sends a mail bomb to Al. Farcically, the bomb is instead opened by an over-eager Ricky, illegally sifting Garcia's mail for clues about the terrorists. Because of Bernal's poor construction, the bomb only injures Ricky. Al never learns that the bomb was addressed to him, and the bombing is attributed to Las Noches. The next evening, Skip buzzes the deck of a cruise ship in a helicopter and bombards the deck with shopping bags containing live snakes. As the panicked passengers dive off the ship and the Coast Guard is summoned, Skip's helicopter unexpectedly crashes at sea before it reaches land. No bodies are recovered. Miami's civic leaders assume the terrorists are dead, but Brian and Al insist that their security precautions remain in place until after the parade. In a last-ditch effort, Jesús kidnaps Al at gunpoint and drives him to Key Largo to be executed. Al is wounded in the shoulder by Jesús's shotgun, but Brian manages to track them down and kills Jesús. To Brian's surprise, the parade proceeds without any sign of Las Noches. The following evening, during the Orange Bowl, he belatedly realizes that Kara Lynn is supposed to make a brief appearance during the game's halftime show, and figures out that Las Noches has chosen that moment to strike. Kara Lynn is kidnapped and carried out of the stadium on an airboat, though one of the terrorists, ex-football player "Viceroy" Wilson, is shot to death by her unofficial escort. Brian deduces from Skip's old press clippings that he has taken Kara Lynn to Osprey Island, a small nature preserve in the middle of Biscayne Bay. There, Skip reveals to Kara Lynn that the island has been mined with dynamite, to be exploded at dawn, to allow for the construction of a new condominium. He plans to leave her there, with the island's other remaining wildlife, so that her death will send a message to Florida's greedy developers. Before Skip can depart, Brian arrives and disables him with a bullet to the leg. Skip initially refuses to tell Brian where he has anchored his boat, prepared to let the dynamite claim the three of them all at once. However, upon realizing that Brian has brought Jenna along, he surrenders the boat's location. To Brian's surprise, he refuses to go along with them. As they speed away from the island, Keyes, Kara Lynn, and Jenna look back and see Skip is climbing a tree, trying to scare a bald eagle nesting there into taking flight before the dynamite explodes. The novel ends just as the "all clear" signal for the detonation is sounded, with the three of them whispering the same prayer: "Please fly away." 

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In 1989, after moving from Michigan to Daytona Beach, Florida, and on the verge of committing suicide, street prostitute Aileen Wuornos meets Selby Wall in a gay bar. Although she is initially hostile and declares that she is not gay, Aileen talks to Selby while drinking beer. Selby takes to Aileen almost immediately, as she likes that she is very protective of her. Selby invites Aileen to spend the night with her. The two women return to the house where Selby is staying (temporarily exiled by her parents following the accusation from another girl that Selby tried to kiss her). They later agree to meet at a roller skating rink, and they kiss for the first time. Aileen and Selby fall in love, but they have nowhere to go, so Selby goes back to her aunt's home. After being brutally raped and beaten by a client, Vincent Corey, Aileen kills him in self-defense and decides to quit prostitution. She confesses her actions to Selby, who has been angry with her for her failure to support both of them. Aileen struggles to find legitimate work, but because of her lack of qualifications and criminal history, prospective employers reject her and are openly hostile. Desperate for money, Aileen returns to prostitution. She robs and kills her johns, each killed in a more brutal way than the last, as she is convinced that they are all trying to rape her. She spares one man out of pity when he admits he has never had sex with a prostitute, but eventually kills another man who, instead of exploiting her, offers help. Aileen uses the money she stole from her victims to support herself and Selby. However, Selby reads in the newspapers about the string of murders, and she begins to suspect that Aileen may have committed them. She confronts Aileen, who justifies her actions by claiming she had only been protecting herself. Selby returns to Ohio on a charter bus. The night of her arrest, Aileen is approached by two bounty hunters luring her outside to hand her to the cops. Thomas, whom Aileen always referred to as the only friend she had, tries to save her from getting arrested by stealing her away from the two men that approached her. Thomas offers to drive her off but Aileen declines, no longer trusting herself with the well-being of anyone dear to her. Aileen is eventually arrested at a biker bar and speaks to Selby one last time while in jail. Selby reveals some incriminating information over the telephone and Aileen realizes that the police are listening in. To protect Selby, Aileen admits that she committed the murders alone. During Aileen's trial, Selby testifies against her, with Aileen's loving consent. Aileen is convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. On October 9, 2002, Aileen is executed by lethal injection. 

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In 1916,The film shows a 1916 newspaper, and a scene late in the film shows American soldiers headed off for World War I. Bill (Gere), a Chicago manual laborer, knocks down and kills a boss (Stuart Margolin) in the steel mill where he works. He flees to the Texas Panhandle with his girlfriend Abby (Adams) and his young sister Linda (Manz). Bill and Abby pretend to be siblings to prevent gossip. The three hire on as part of a large group of seasonal workers with a rich, shy farmer (Shepard). Bill overhears a doctor apparently telling the farmer he has only a year to live, although the nature of the illness isn't specified. After the farmer falls in love with Abby, Bill encourages her to marry him so they can inherit his money after he dies. The marriage takes place and Bill stays on the farm as Abby's "brother". The farmer's foreman suspects their scheme. The farmer's health unexpectedly remains stable, foiling Bill's plans. Eventually, the farmer discovers Bill's true relationship with Abby. At the same time, Abby has begun to fall in love with her husband. After a locust swarm and a fire destroy his wheat fields, the incensed farmer goes after Bill with a gun but Bill kills him with a screwdriver, fleeing with Abby and Linda. The foreman and the police pursue and eventually find them. Bill is killed by the police. Abby inherits the farmer's money and leaves Linda at a boarding school. Abby leaves town on a train with soldiers departing for World War I. Linda runs away from school with a friend from the farm. 

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Madeline Rose "Maddy" Phillips (Kristen Stewart) is a 12-year-old girl who loves to climb, often ascending the nearby water tower. Her father, Tom, shares her passion, but fell more than 100 feet during a climb years earlier; Tom and his wife Molly (Jennifer Beals) are afraid Maddy may suffer a similar accident and have forbidden her from climbing. Latent injuries from Tom's fall have recently paralyzed him from the neck down. The family hears of an experimental operation which can save him, but insurance will not pay for the operation, and the family does not have 250,000 USD for the treatment. Harderbach Financial's president Donald Brisbane (Michael Des Barres) refuses to loan the amount, despite Molly being employed by the bank to design a security system. Maddy comes up with a plan to rob the bank for the money with her knowledge of her mother's system. Maddy steals three go-carts from her father's race course and recruits her two friends Gus (Max Thieriot) a young mechanic, and Austin (Corbin Bleu) a computer geek and aspiring filmmaker, to help her. To convince them, she separately tells each one she loves him and gives him one half of her friendship necklace. They break into Harderbach Financial on the night of a party Brisbane is throwing, bringing along Max, Maddy's infant brother, who she is supposed to be babysitting. Maddy distracts the security guards, one of whom is Chad, Gus' older brother. Maddy and Gus progress to a room with thousands of security deposit boxes while Austin watches Max and manipulates the cameras and alarms to keep the guards away from them. Maddy is forced to free climb to get to the main vault containing hundreds of thousands of dollars when her hook gets caught in a crack when using the handhelds. She cracks the code ("Madeline") and they flee the room, unintentionally setting off the alarm after forgetting to type the exit code. The trio escapes guard dogs and re-escapes Chad. Gus and Austin find out that Maddy played them after seeing each other's necklaces and leave her, but the trio reunites during a police chase and evades them successfully. Molly arrives at the bank, and Brisbane accuses her system of being useless and fires a Phillips family friend and bank employee, Hartmann (John Carroll Lynch). Brisbane's guest, Francois Nuffaut, apologizes to Molly and redirects the blame onto Brisbane, for throwing a party at the bank before the security system was operable. Maddy and her friends go to the hospital with the money to pay the surgery, but Molly realizes who the thieves are (through the amount they stole being equal to that of surgery costs and the climbing gear Maddy left in the vault) and intercepts them. Molly realizes her daughter was only doing what she thought was right for her father and covers by telling the bank executives that the robbery was an unplanned test she performed as chief of security. As they leave, reporters outside the hospital give the public the full story. Molly forgives Maddy for her actions, the public sympathizes with the Phillips and fundraises the full amount for Tom's surgery, Hartmann is promoted to president of the bank after Brisbane's mistakes, and Maddy, Gus, and Austin continue to argue about who will be a better boyfriend for Maddy. 

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Successful San Francisco corporate lawyer Peter Banning is unaware that his workaholic lifestyle is straining his relationship with his wife Moira and their children, Jack and Maggie, even though he loves them dearly. As the family prepare to fly to London to visit Moira's grandmother, Wendy Darling, Peter is distracted at the office and misses Jack's baseball game. In London, Peter, Moira and Wendy attend a charity dinner in Wendy's honor, leaving Wendy's old friend Tootles and her housekeeper Liza to watch over the children. When the group return they find the house vandalized, the children missing, and a ransom note written by Captain James Hook. Peter involves the authorities, but Wendy insists that only he can save Jack and Maggie, claiming that Peter is really Peter Pan. Peter refuses to believe this, and while drinking in the nursery he encounters Tinker Bell, who uses her pixie dust to bring him to Neverland. Tinker Bell drops Peter into Hook's pirate haven, where Peter is discovered after seeing Hook displaying his children to his pirates. Surprised to see how weak Peter has become, Hook challenges him to fly and rescue his children, but then prepares to execute him when he fails to fly and reach the hands of his children. Tinker Bell persuades Hook to release Peter instead, promising to bring him back with all his skills for a climactic battle in three days. Peter is then taken to the Lost Boys, who have been led by Rufio following Pan's absence. The boys mock Peter at first, but eventually recognize him and train Peter while encouraging him to use his imagination to restore some of his abilities, much to Rufio's annoyance. Meanwhile, Mr. Smee suggests to Hook that they turn Peter's children against him. This tactic does not work with Maggie, but Jack is swayed due to his father's recent broken promises. Hook then has the pirates play a game of baseball, which Peter spies on while trying to steal his hook. Dismayed to see Jack take to Hook as his father-figure, Peter forces himself to remember that he is actually Peter Pan and discovers Wendy's treehouse, where she and her brothers had stayed. Inside, Tinker Bell helps Peter recollect his lost memories, of how she took him to Neverland as an infant and his adventures with the Darling children. He finally recalls that he frequently returned to see Wendy after the Darlings returned to London, until Wendy grew old. Peter then stayed behind after falling in love with her granddaughter Moira, and subsequently lost all memory of Neverland before being adopted by the Banning family in America. Recalling the day of Jack's birth, Peter finally finds a strong happy thought that restores his power to fly, bringing him back as Peter Pan. Rufio turns his sword over to him in reverence, the Lost Boys celebrate the return of Peter Pan and that night Tinker Bell professes her long-repressed love for Peter with a kiss, only for Peter to be reminded of his love for his family. Pan and the Lost Boys fight Hook and his pirates the next day, and while Peter rescues Maggie and the pirates surrender, Rufio engages Hook in a duel and is killed. With his dying breath, Rufio tells Peter he wishes he had a father like him, which causes the onlooking Jack to come to his senses. Jack reconciles with his father, and Peter duels Hook and defeats him, whereupon Hook is devoured by the taxidermied crocodile when it very briefly comes back to life. Tinker Bell takes Jack and Maggie back to London, and Peter appoints Thud Butt as his successor before leaving after them. Peter awakens in Kensington Gardens, and sees someone resembling Mr. Smee sweeping up some empty bottles nearby. Tinker Bell appears and bids a tearful farewell to Peter before departing. Reuniting with his family at Wendy's house, Peter decides to change his life and devote more time to his family. Peter hands Tootles his lost bag of marbles (which Thud Butt had given to Peter earlier), whereupon Tootles joyfully sprinkles himself with the pixie dust inside and flies out the window. Peter tells Wendy that his adventures are not yet over as he and his family watch Tootles fly off to Neverland. 

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Teenager Karen Braden (Kelley Bohanon) is a troubled mental hospital outpatient who is taken by her father George and sister Isa to a government facility near the Craters of the Moon lava fields in Idaho. The project there was commissioned to develop matter transference, but made a different discovery: time travel. They also discovered that a mysterious ecological catastrophe will soon wipe out civilization. The time travel process has negative health effects, though. Adults "not much older than 20" are unable to survive for long, as their kidneys hemorrhage shortly after the experience. So the scientists decide to only send young people 56 years into the future so they can build a new civilization. After the government takes over the project, the transfer machines are turned off, trapping a large number of project members in the future. Now trapped, they begin exploring the future world. The last survivor from the project is picked up by a family dressed in futuristic clothing. She is placed alive in the trunk of their car, ostensibly to be used as fuel. The small girl in the back seat asks what will happen when they run out of them (people from the past), "Will we have to use each other, then?" 

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Set in the Midwestern house of Lola and Doc Delaney, the plot centers on how their life is disrupted by the presence of a boarder, Marie, a college art student who has a keen interest in the young men around her. Middle-aged Lola engages in mild flirtations with the milkman and the mailman. She sees in Marie a younger version of herself and encourages her pursuit of her hometown boyfriend, the wealthy Bruce, but also her classmate, the athletic Turk. Doc, a chiropractor, abandoned a different career in medicine when he married a pregnant Lola, who subsequently lost the baby. An alcoholic, Doc maintains a precarious sobriety. To him, Marie represents youth and opportunities long gone; seeing her with Turk brings out resentments against Lola for ruining his life. Ultimately these feelings cause him to fall off the wagon, and act violently toward Lola. Frightened, she calls Doc's AA sponsor, who comes to collect Doc and take him to the police station, where he is detained for drunkenness. Afterward, forced hospitalization sobers him up, and once the boarder leaves, he and Lola reconcile. The title refers to Lola's missing dog, who disappeared before the play's opening and remains gone throughout the story. Lola hopes for the puppy's return throughout the play by calling "Come back, little Sheba" daily from the front door, but eventually faces reality and gives up on Sheba's return. 

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The story of a fiercely independent and uncompromising young woman. Stella, a rembetiko singer at Paradise nightclub, lives a guiltless, turbulent life. Her innate independence and assertive nature lead her to numerous passionate love affairs. While with Aleko, son of a wealthy family, she decides, as is her habit, to break up before the relationship wears off. Once she meets Miltos, a young soccer player, she seems to change. At first, she avoids his advances, but, later, gives in to him. However, she can only be with him on her own terms. No matter how much she loves him, she mostly values her freedom. Things turn complicated when she is called to choose. She repeatedly rejects Miltos marriage proposals. When Miltos finally forces her to accept the idea of marriage, Stella does not appear in church, despite Miltos repeatedly warning her that he will kill her if she doesn't marry him. Miltos kills her with a dagger at end of the film. It has been said that the story of Stella's forced marriage symbolises the forces that are constantly trying to impose their will on Greece. 

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On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa and his longtime friend Bobby Ciaro are impatiently waiting in the parking lot of a roadhouse diner. The film moves in vignettes from Hoffa's early years, when Hoffa was a Teamsters union organizer working for the various trucking firms and laundries around Detroit, Michigan. Hoffa's life since 1935, when still young, over the four preceding decades gradually unfolds. Approaching a parked truck, inside of which driver Ciaro is taking a nap, Hoffa pitches the benefits of joining the Teamsters and gives Ciaro a business card, on which he has written: "Give this man whatever he needs." A few days later Ciaro reports to work to find Hoffa attempting to organize the workers there to join the Union. Hoffa blurts out they'd ridden 85 miles together, and Ciaro is fired. He later accosts Hoffa with a knife, but Hoffa's associate Billy Flynn pulls a gun on Ciaro, who drops the knife. Ciaro joins the pair in the arson of a laundry whose owner refuses to cooperate with the Teamsters. The arson gets out of control, severely burning Flynn, who dies. He is succeeded by Ciaro as Hoffa's right-hand man. During a Teamsters strike, escaping a fight with non- union workers and police, Hoffa is taken to a local Mafia boss, with the Italian-American Ciaro acting as translator. An alliance between the Teamsters and the mob is thereby formed, and a close relations between Hoffa and Carol D'Allesandro. Hoffa rises to the presidency of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. His illegal activities include the use of Teamster funds to make loans to the mob. At a Congressional hearing, Hoffa is questioned by Robert F. Kennedy regarding his suspicious union activities. Kennedy and Hoffa engage in a loud and bitter feud, especially after John F. Kennedy is elected President and Bobby becomes Attorney General. Hoffa, on a hunting trip with D'Allesandro, discusses ways to exploit the union's pension fund. Having no paper with them, the plans are sketched on the back of a hunting license. Subsequently, Hoffa is betrayed by a junior associate, Peter Connelly, who testifies at Hoffa's trial. The critical evidence against Hoffa is the hunting license on which the plans to raid the Teamster's pension fund were written. Hoffa surrenders to federal officials and serves time in a Pennsylvania federal prison while Connelly's uncle, Frank Fitzsimmons, takes over as Teamsters boss. Ciaro, also convicted and imprisoned, is freed and immediately begins working for Hoffa's release. D'Allesandro suggests that the Teamsters endorse Richard M. Nixon for President, so that in exchange for Teamster endorsement, Hoffa will receive a presidential pardon. Hoffa is released from prison and expects to again run the Teamsters, but learns that one of the conditions of his release is that he is ineligible to run the union for 10 years. Hoffa meets with D'Allesandro and demands to the gangster that Fitzsimmons be killed, which resulted in someone wiring Fitz's car to explode. D'Allesandro believes that Hoffa is "too hot" and says, "I can't get close to it." Hoffa leaves with the matter unresolved. Ciaro delivers a message to D'Allesandro that unless the matter of Fitzsimmons be settled, Hoffa will go to the press. D'Allesandro says to assure Hoffa that "everything is gonna be all right", and tell him that they will all meet tomorrow at "the roadhouse", a remote diner. Hoffa and Ciaro spend several hours waiting in the diner's parking lot, but D'Allesandro never arrives. A union driver has been waiting for hours in the dining room, allegedly for a part for his truck, engaging in a chat with Ciaro who offered him to meet Hoffa while bringing a cup of coffee to his car. The driver is revealed to be a hit man who guns down both Hoffa and Ciaro. Just exactly who hired his services is not revealed, however, the implication is that he was sent by D'Allesandro in retaliation for Hoffa's threat to 'go to the press'. Barely a minute later however, two men arrive to dump both bodies one on top the other the car's back seat and haul it onto a large truck that arrives to clear the deadly site, then drives off into the sunset. 

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Fashion merchandising student and sorority girl Elle Woods is taken to an expensive restaurant by her boyfriend, the governor's son, Warner Huntington III. She expects Warner to propose, but he breaks up with her instead. He intends to go to Harvard Law School and become a successful politician, and believes that Elle is not "serious" enough for that kind of life. Elle believes she can win Warner back if she shows herself capable of achieving the same things. After months of studying, Elle scores a 179 on the Law School Admission Test and, combined with her 4.0 GPA, is accepted to Harvard Law School. Upon arriving at Harvard, Elle's SoCal personality is a complete contrast to her East Coast classmates, who refuse to take her seriously. Elle soon encounters Warner but discovers he is engaged to another classmate, his old girlfriend Vivian Kensington. She meets Paulette Bonafonté at a hair salon and helps her get her dog that her ex-husband took. The snobby Vivian sees Elle as a fool and constantly treats her as such. Later, Elle tells Warner that she intends to apply for one of her professor's internships, but Warner tells her that she is wasting her time because she simply isn't smart enough. It is here when Elle realizes that Warner will never take her back or take her seriously, and finds motivation to prove herself by working hard and demonstrating her understanding of the subject. The following semester, Professor Callahan, a respected law professor who happens to be the state's top defense lawyer and a name partner at a prestigious firm, decides to take on some first-year interns to help with his firm's high-profile murder case. Among those chosen are Elle, Warner, and Vivian. Callahan is defending a prominent fitness instructor named Brooke Windham, who is one of Elle's role models. Accused of murdering her husband, Brooke is unwilling to produce an alibi (she later reveals to Elle that she was having liposuction, a fact that would ruin her reputation, which Elle promises not to disclose). Vivian earns a new respect for Elle and even reveals that Warner couldn't get into Harvard without his father's help. Emmett Richmond, Callahan's junior partner, has also taken notice of Elle's potential. One night, Callahan attempts to seduce Elle, who now believes that is the reason why she got the internship. Vivian thinks that Elle slept with Callahan in exchange for allowing her a spot in the case. Devastated, she quits and nearly returns home to California, telling Emmett what happened. When Emmett explains how Callahan's behaviour caused Elle to quit her internship, Brooke fires Callahan and replaces him with Elle (under the guidance of Emmett, as she is only a law student, citing a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling that law students may represent clients as long as they do so under the supervision of a licensed attorney). Elle begins to cross-examine Brooke's stepdaughter Chutney, and notices important inconsistencies in her story: Chutney testified that she was home during her father's murder but did not hear the gunshot because she was in the shower after getting her hair permed that morning. Elle says that washing permed hair within the first 24 hours would deactivate the ammonium thioglycolate, and points out that Chutney's curls are still intact. With her story falling apart, Chutney confesses that she had killed her father but only by accident, as she intended to kill Brooke because she hated the fact that her father married someone who was the same age as her. After the trial, Warner approaches Elle and asks her to take him back, since she has proven herself. Elle rejects him, realizing that he is shallow and a "complete bonehead". She and Vivian, however, become good friends – especially after she dumps Warner. Two years later Elle, having graduated top of her class, gives the graduation speech. (Warner, it transpires, only barely managed to graduate at all.) Emmett has started his own law firm and has been dating Elle for two years, with plans to propose to her later that night. 

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The plot focuses on a group of rebels attempting to overthrow both tyrants and win back their homeland. Many of the rebels are natives of the province of Tigana, which was the province that most ably resisted Brandin: In a crucial battle, Brandin's son was killed. In retaliation for this, Brandin attacked Tigana and crushed it more savagely than any other part of the Palm; then, following this victory, he used his magic to remove the name and history of Tigana from the minds of the population. Brandin named it Lower Corte, making Corte, their traditional enemies to their north, seem superior to a land that was all but forgotten. Only those born in Tigana before the invasion can hear or speak its name, or remember it as it was; as far as everyone else is concerned, that area of the country has always been an insignificant part of a neighbouring province, hence the rebels are battling for the very soul of their country. The book puts great emphasis on the different moral shades of people. Though seen by most of the characters as a ruthless, grief-maddened tyrant, Brandin is actually a very sympathetic character, especially in his love for Dianora, one of the women of his harem, called a saishan in the book — a character who is in fact from Tigana herself and engineered her own selection into Brandin's seraglio so that she could assassinate him, only to fall in love with him before she could. Despite being likeable and sympathetic, many of the rebels are equally ruthless in their attempts to overthrow the Tyrants, setting off wars, assassinating soldiers and officials and even committing suicide to depose Brandin. The book is full of themes of identity, love, patriotism, revenge and magic. 

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Three men, Red Pollard, Charles S. Howard, and Tom Smith come together as the principal jockey, owner, and trainer of the champion race horse Seabiscuit, rising from individual troubled times to achieve fame and success through their association with the horse. Pollard's Canadian family is financially ruined by the Great Depression. Desperately needing money, his parents give up custody of him and find him a work situation with a horse trainer. Pollard eventually becomes a jockey and makes extra money through illegal boxing matches, one of which leaves him blind in one eye. Howard runs a bicycle shop. A passing motorist asks him to repair his automobile, a new technology. Seeing an opportunity, Howard begins selling automobiles, eventually becoming the largest car dealer in California and one of the Bay Area's richest men. When his young son, Frankie, is killed in an automobile accident, Howard falls into a deep depression, eventually resulting in his wife leaving him. While in Mexico to obtain a divorce, Howard meets Marcela Zabala. After later marrying her, Howard acquires a stable of race horses. He has a chance encounter with skilled horse trainer and drifter Tom Smith. Howard hires Smith to manage his stables. Smith convinces Howard to acquire a colt, "Seabiscuit", who comes from noted lineage but had been deemed "incorrigible" by past handlers. Smith has difficulty finding a jockey able to handle Seabiscuit's temperament. After witnessing Pollard brawling with other stable boys, Smith recognizes him as a kindred spirit to the feisty horse and hires Pollard as Seabiscuit's jockey. Seabiscuit and Pollard become close, and they begin to race together. After overcoming early difficulties, such as a dismissive media along with Pollard's anger issues and blind eye, Seabiscuit earns considerable success and becomes a popular underdog to the millions affected by the Great Depression. Inspired, Howard challenges New York tycoon Samuel Riddle and his champion race horse, "War Admiral", to a match race. Riddle initially refuses & mocks Seabiscuit to the press, but after a public campaign by Howard, Riddle eventually bows to public pressure and accepts the challenge with conditions, including that the race be held at War Admiral's home track, Pimlico Race Course. Smith begins to train Seabiscuit to break more quickly than he usually does when the race begins in order to keep up with War Admiral. He does this via unusual methods, such as training Seabiscuit at night. As the race approaches, Pollard is injured in a riding accident, severely fracturing his leg. Unable to ride, Pollard recommends that Howard invite his old friend, skilled jockey George Woolf to ride Seabiscuit in the match race. Before the race, Pollard advises Woolf on Seabiscuit's handling and behavior from his hospital bed. He tells Woolf to allow War Admiral to catch up to Seabiscuit shortly before the final turn, and then, to let Seabiscuit look War Admiral in the eye before turning him loose. Before a sellout crowd and with many more listening on the radio across the country, Seabiscuit wins the match race with Woolf aboard, delighting the nation. A few months later, Seabiscuit is racing at Santa Anita and injures his leg. With both he and Seabiscuit suffering from an injured leg, Pollard helps Seabiscuit to recover while also getting himself fit enough to race again. Howard enters Seabiscuit into the Santa Anita Handicap, but is reluctant to allow Pollard to ride Seabiscuit in the race, fearful that he will cripple himself for the rest of his life or die. After both Woolf & Marcela ask him to allow Pollard to ride Seabiscuit in the race, Howard relents. On the day of the Santa Anita Handicap and before a sellout crowd, Pollard is once again aboard Seabiscuit, using a self-made brace on his leg. Woolf is riding a different horse in the race. Seabiscuit & Pollard suffer a bad break from the gate and drop far behind the pack. Woolf pulls his horse alongside Pollard and lets Seabiscuit get a good look at his mount. Seabiscuit suddenly surges ahead and breaks away from the pack. As he heads toward the finish line, a voiceover from Pollard explains that everyone believes that the story of Seabiscuit is of three men who fixed a broken down horse, but that in actuality, Seabiscuit fixed all three of them and that in a way, they all also fixed one another. As Seabiscuit and Pollard cross the finish line in 1st with Howard and Smith beaming and the crowd wildly cheering, the screen slowly fades to black. 

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Francis Brown, a tax auditor for Revenue Canada, is a regular visitor to a Toronto strip club called Exotica. He always has Christina, an exotic dancer dressed in a schoolgirl uniform, give him a private dance. This inspires the jealousy of the club's DJ, Eric, Christina's former boyfriend who has also impregnated the club's owner, Zoe. While at the club, Francis pays his brother Harold's teenage daughter, Tracey, to "babysit". However, Francis has no children and the girl merely practices music alone until Francis returns and drives her home. Francis' relationship with Harold is strained, as Francis found out that Harold and Francis' wife were having an affair after she died in a car accident, which also left Harold a paraplegic. Francis' daughter was kidnapped and killed a few months before the accident, and he was one of the suspects but was later exonerated. These events have left a huge psychological scar on Francis. In his professional life, Francis is sent to audit Thomas Pinto's pet store pursuant to the suspicion that Thomas is profiting from the illegal import of rare bird species. Thomas has been smuggling hyacinth macaw eggs, and his operation is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Francis is eventually banned from Exotica when Eric manipulates him into touching Christina during one of her dances, which is against the rules of the club. Around the same time, Francis discovers illegal activities in Thomas' financial records, and blackmails Thomas to go to the club to learn about what happened the night he was kicked out. In the process, Francis realizes Eric intentionally set out to get him banned and vows to kill him. Confronting Eric with a gun, Francis is defused when Eric reveals he and Christina were the ones who found the body of Francis' daughter. Christina also reveals to Thomas that she and Francis share a relationship of mutual dependency; in the past, when she used to babysit his daughter, Francis would comfort her about her troubled life at home. 

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The film begins with scenes of life in Wyoming Territory, where new settlers join the cattle business by finding stray, unbranded cattle, called "mavericks", on public land. The narrator explains that established ranchers use the "Maverick Act" against the settlers, while "sharp-witted men" take advantage of the resulting conflict. After this introduction, Jim Averell (Bishop) is shown exhorting settlers to elect him governor to defend them against cattle barons such as Reece Duncan (Scourby). When Averell's speech is over, the famous stage performer Kate Maxwell (O'Hara) arrives with a group of showgirls. Averell has arranged for Kate to operate both a cattle-buying business and a saloon. Duncan warns Kate that he will kill anyone caught stealing cattle on his land, and Sheriff Stan Blaine (Nicol) warns her of an impending war over the cattle business. The tension between Duncan and the settlers rises as the settlers search for mavericks on Duncan's land and outlaws hired by Averell steal Duncan's cattle. Averell designed the "K-M" brand for Kate's cattle business in such a way that her branding iron completely covers Duncan's "bar double check" brand when applied directly over it. When Averell explains this trick to Kate, he makes it clear to her that she will be hanged as a rustler if she informs the authorities, and Duncan refuses her offer to support him against Averell. Meanwhile, unknown gunfighters assemble in the nearby hills, and one of them shoots a settler. After Duncan attempts to stop a cattle roundup organized by Averell and the settlers, one of his men is killed, with Kate's branding iron left near the body. To further increase the tension, Averell offers Duncan his support against the settlers immediately after inciting their anger against Duncan. Averell's plan is to ignite a cattle war and promote his own political career by providing leadership once the war has begun. However, Blaine discovers Averell's plan. After Blaine and Kate have explained it to their men, they stage a fake war, and Blaine forces Averell to signal his men. When the outlaws ride into town, they begin a gunfight against both Duncan's men and the settlers. After Averell shoots Blaine, Kate catches him stealing money from the saloon, and when he tries to shoot her, she and Blaine kill him. After the fight, Blaine prepares to leave town, but Kate persuades him to stay with her. The film ends as they ride away to inspect some farmland for a new home. 

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The series begins with a short introduction, narrated in the present from the viewpoint of Paul Garrett, and a brief montage covering the natural history described in the first chapters of the book. It also includes comments by the author, James Michener, about the background and context to the drama. 

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The series features the more popular characters from Wacky Races, namely Penelope Pitstop and the Ant Hill Mob, the latter of whom take on the role of heroes in contrast to their previously nefarious personalities. In each episode, Penelope's guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, attempts to claim Penelope's inheritance for himself by attacking her in the disguise of his sinister alter-ego the Hooded Claw. Aided by his twin henchmen the Bully Brothers, who always speak in unison, the Claw creates over-elaborate Rube Goldberg-style plots to do away with Penelope. Even though the Ant Hill Mob often came to Penelope's rescue, she herself often needed to save the Mob from the unintended effects of their attempts to rescue her. But just as quickly as Penelope was delivered from one quandary, she almost immediately found herself ensnared in another one of the Claw's traps. Despite their overall bumbling, however, the Ant Hill Mob always managed to rescue Penelope and foil the Hooded Claw's plans in the end. While Penelope was curiously helpless whenever the Hooded Claw grabbed her, once he left her tied up for his fiendish plans to take effect, she usually became resourceful and ingenious, sometimes coming up with spontaneous or creative methodologies to escape her own predicaments. 

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In a dystopian future, Detroit is on the verge of collapse due to financial mismanagement and a high crime rate. The city signs a deal with the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to run Detroit's police department in exchange for letting OCP rebuild run-down sections of the city into a high-end utopia. Senior Vice President Dick Jones demonstrates a new law enforcement robot, ED-209. However, the robot malfunctions, killing an executive. Bob Morton, an ambitious executive, uses the opportunity to introduce his own experimental cyborg design, RoboCop. The chairman is dismayed at the ED-209 failure and approves Morton's plan, to Jones' anger. On patrol in the violent Metro West precinct, officers Alex Murphy and Anne Lewis pursue a notorious gang after an armed robbery. Investigating their hideout, an abandoned steel mill, Murphy kills one of the gang members, but is ambushed by the leader, Clarence Boddicker. Boddicker's accomplices shoot Murphy repeatedly with shotguns, until Boddicker shoots him through the head. Lewis arrives too late to help. Murphy is evacuated by helicopter but dies in the trauma unit. OCP claims Murphy's body and converts it into RoboCop. The cyborg is programmed with three main directives: serve the public trust; protect the innocent; and uphold the law. RoboCop is assigned to Metro West, where he begins a brutally efficient campaign against crime. However, though Murphy's memory was wiped, RoboCop begins to remember scenes from Murphy's life, including his death. Lewis confirms to RoboCop that he is Murphy, to his shock. On patrol, RoboCop foils an armed robbery perpetrated by Emil Antonowsky, one of Boddiker's gang members who participated in Murphy's execution. Emil recognizes Murphy's mannerisms, furthering RoboCop's memory recall. RoboCop uses the police database to identify the gang members and locate his home, now abandoned. Meanwhile, at the behest of Jones, Boddicker murders Morton. RoboCop locates Boddicker at a cocaine factory, where the workers open fire on him, but he overpowers them and captures Boddicker. RoboCop brutalizes Boddicker, but before RoboCop can kill him, Boddicker reveals that he is in Jones's employ. Depositing Boddicker at Metro West, RoboCop heads to OCP Tower to confront Jones. However, when RoboCop attempts to arrest Jones for aiding Boddicker, he discovers a previously-unseen fourth directive, implanted by Jones himself: "Any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in shutdown". Jones admits his culpability in Morton's death and tries to kill RoboCop with an ED-209 unit. However, RoboCop escapes to the garage, where police ambush him. Lewis finds RoboCop and helps him escape to the abandoned steel mill to repair himself. The police, angered by OCP's underfunding and short-staffing, call a strike, and Detroit descends into chaos. Jones, having freed Boddicker and his gang, provides them with heavy weapons and a tracking system for RoboCop, then sends them out to destroy RoboCop. The gang arrives at the steel mill, but they are dispatched by RoboCop and Lewis. The final confrontation with Boddicker ends with RoboCop stabbing him to death in the throat with the computer interface spike installed in his fist. RoboCop returns to OCP Tower, destroying the ED-209 at the door with Boddicker's weapon, the Cobra Assault Cannon. He confronts Jones at a board meeting, revealing the fourth directive and his recording of Jones' confession. Jones grabs a gun and takes the OCP chairman hostage, planning to escape via helicopter. The chairman clues in and fires Jones, making the fourth directive irrelevant and allowing RoboCop to shoot him; he falls from the tower to his death. Impressed and thankful for saving his life, the chairman asks RoboCop's name; he replies "Murphy" and smiles, indicating he has gained a sense of his humanity. 

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Pikachu watches a game show, Quiz Wobbuffet The game opens with a group of Magnemite—magnet-like Pokémon with levitation abilities—delivering a television to the player's house. Upon turning the television on, Professor Oak appears to request the player's help: he is creating a new television network for Trainers and their Pokémon to enjoy together, and he wants the player to serve as a beta tester. He has them watch an episode of an anime called Pichu Brothers in Party Panic! and then introduces the game's basic features before leaving them alone. The player then hears Pokémon cries from outside, which turns out to belong to a Pikachu and two other creatures: the reptilian Treecko and the avian Torchic. While the others run off, the Pikachu stays and the player adopts it. Oak decides to allow Pikachu to be a second beta tester. After completing a few tasks, the player returns to Oak's channel, and the Professor remarks that Pikachu has behaved remarkably well. The overexcited Pikachu uses its Thunderbolt attack on the television and destroys it. Unfazed, Oak has the Magnemite deliver a "retro" television while the player and Pikachu wait for a replacement of the original. When the replacement arrives the next morning, the Professor remarks that the player's viewership has brought life to the network and helped spawn new shows. The player then finds a bus stop and visits Viridian Forest, a location that first appeared in Pokémon Red and Blue. The third day opens with Pikachu asleep in the cupboard and Oak expressing pleasure at the Pokémon's growing attachment to the player. On the fourth day, Pikachu invites its friends back over. Little else occurs on these two days besides visits to the snowy Mt. Snowfall and the tropical Cobalt Coast, although Oak does continue to laud the player's investment in the network, which has become a huge success. On the morning of the fifth day, the Pokémon News Flash reports on a breaking news story: a disc containing the unaired fifth episode of Pichu Brothers was dropped and lost by the delivery Magnemite on their way to the show's broadcasting studio. After obtaining a lamp from a friendly Duskull in the front lawn, the player takes a bus back to Mt. Snowfall, where the disc was presumed lost. Eastward are the Ruins of Truth, where the stubborn Ghost- type Pokémon Gengar blocks the player's path until it is scared away by the lamp. Inside the Ruins, Pikachu gets stuck inside a statue of the bat-like Pokémon Golbat. Upon being shaken free, the missing disc pops out. The player hands it back to Magnemite, who is waiting sheepishly outside, and heads home to watch the last episode, along with a video called Meowth's Party. Oak informs the player that every program produced for his network has been aired, thanking the player and Pikachu for their time, and announces the impending arrival of a gift for them. The gift, which arrives the following morning, is a "Star Projector", a device for viewing images flashed across the sky. That night, Professor Oak notices that a Pokémon has arrived at the player's house—the rare and legendary Jirachi—which leaves him in shock. The player, Pikachu, and Jirachi then visit Camp Starlight, the locale for which the Projector is intended. Using it, they project the entire series of Pichu Brothers and Meowth's Party onto the sky for the universe to see, and the story ends. This event also allows players of the PAL version (i.a. Europe and Australia) to download a Jirachi to a copy of Pokémon Ruby or Sapphire (as well as the patch that fixes the Berry Glitch) via the Nintendo GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable. 

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The series opens at Felicity's high school graduation, where she asks Ben Covington, a classmate on whom she has a crush, to sign her yearbook. Moved by his comment that he wished they had gotten to know each other further, she changes her education plans completely, deciding to follow Ben to New York rather than attend Stanford University as a pre-med student. Felicity's overbearing parents, concerned about Felicity's seemingly rash decision, come to New York to try to persuade her to return home and "get back on track". Felicity has second thoughts about her decision, but soon realizes that she came not only to follow Ben, but to discover her true inner self. While Felicity works to sort out her emotions, she continues the basic motions of student life and moves into her dorm. There, she meets the resident advisor Noel Crane. Eventually, the two develop a romantic relationship, and the love triangle among Felicity, Ben, and Noel forms the basic dramatic conflicts in the show throughout the series. A number of other characters appear and play large roles in Felicity's life. Her roommate for the first two years is Meghan Rotundi, a goth Wiccan who occasionally casts spells on Felicity and others. Julie Emrick is one of Felicity's best friends, as is Elena Tyler, who often takes classes with Felicity. Felicity also has male friends, including Sean Blumberg, who is always trying to produce new off-kilter inventions, and Javier Clemente Quintata, who manages the Dean & DeLuca where Felicity works for most of her college career. A recurring episode opener of the show is a stark camera shot of Felicity sitting in a dormitory room or apartment holding a tape recorder, recalling events in order to make a cassette tape to send to an old friend named Sally Reardon (voiced by Janeane Garofalo). This occasionally provides a method for Felicity to narrate an entire episode. At the end of episodes like this, Felicity is often shown to be listening to a tape that Sally has sent in reply. 

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In two volumes, The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of the 19th Century tells the story of Julien Sorel's life in France's rigid social structure restored after the disruptions of the French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. 

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On the outskirts of a small town there is a rock formation called Witch Mountain rumored to possess mysterious powers. A young waitress, Zoe Moon (Perrey Reeves), finds and notices infant twin children Anna and Danny, who create a wave of purple energy when their hands touch. Before she can do anything, the children are separated when a hermit, Bruno (Brad Dourif), places Anna on a truck but flees when he is spotted by Sheriff Bronson (Kevin Tighe). Danny (Erik von Detten) spends the next nine years of his life between foster families and frequently runs away. After his latest attempt is thwarted, his frustrated social worker decides to leave him at an orphanage run by Lindsay Brown (Lynne Moody). He is reunited with Anna (Elisabeth Moss) when she saves him from Xander (Sam Horrigan), an older boy at the orphanage who has a soft spot for Anna. Neither Danny or Anna are initially aware of their relationship, despite performing identical odd mannerisms. However, their newly found proximity to one another reawakens their supernatural powers and they realize that they are siblings. When Edward Bolt (Robert Vaughn), a local magnate seeking to develop the nearby Witch Mountain, notices their powers, he decides to care for both of them as their foster father. Though Danny is happy with the development because he has his sister and a nice home, Anna is apprehensive about being adopted by Bolt and befriends Bolt's chauffeur, Luthor (Brad Dourif), who feels he has a connection to the twins. During one of their outings to a purple general store, Anna uses her telekinetic abilities and catches the attention of the store's owner, Waldo Fudd (Vincent Schiavelli). Waldo reveals he has the same abilities they do and that they are extraterrestrials from another world where everyone has a twin. When they came to Earth to explore, everyone separated due to the quarrels they experienced on Earth. Waldo has been working to reunite them all and take them home. Meanwhile, Zoe sees the purple light from the front of the shop and recognizes it and confronts Waldo to discover the fate of the twins she saw years earlier. Though he dismisses her claims, Waldo leaves her clues regarding Anna and Danny's fates if she wishes to help them. Bolt reveals his true intention to exploit the twins' power to blast open Witch Mountain without explosives in order to obtain its valuable rock material, despite Waldo's protest that the mountain must not be tampered with. Anna discovers the truth and telepathically warns Danny, only to be held hostage by Bolt so that Danny will do as he asks. The twins are rescued by Xander and escape to Waldo's shop on a horse that Danny communicates with to help them. Lindsay becomes suspicious of Bolt when he sends the police to retrieve the children from the shop. Zoe and Bruno help Danny and Anna escape to Witch Mountain after the twins levitate Bruno's truck, while Bolt is arrested by Bronson after Luthor exposes Bolt's plot. At Witch Mountain, Waldo and the other reunited twins await Anna and Danny so they can all return home. The last set of twins arrive soon after—Bruno and Luthor. Using Waldo and his twin's power on their home world, all of the twins return home in pairs, with Anna and Danny going last to close the gate between their home world and Earth. Waldo casually comments that he will be waiting for the next group of tourists, while Anna and Danny float up into the purple smoke to Witch Mountain. Zoe narrates that Witch Mountain is not haunted but has light in it. 

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This musical version is much closer to the 1937 film than to the original James Hilton novel. It tells the story of a group of travellers whose aeroplane is hijacked while fleeing a bloody revolution. The aeroplane crash lands in an unexplored area of the Himalayas, where the party is rescued and taken to the lamasery of Shangri-La. Miraculously, Shangri-La, sheltered by mountains on all sides, is a temperate paradise amid the land of snows. Perfect health is the norm, and inhabitants live to very old age while maintaining a youthful appearance. The newcomers quickly adjust, especially Richard Conway (Peter Finch), the group's leader. He falls in love with Catherine (Liv Ullmann), a schoolteacher. Sally Hughes (Sally Kellerman), a drug-addicted photographer, is suicidal at first, but begins counselling with lamas Chang (John Gielgud) and To Len (James Shigeta) and finds inner peace. Sam Cornelius (George Kennedy) discovers gold, but Sally convinces him to use his engineering skills to bring better irrigation to the farmers of Shangri-La instead of attempting to smuggle out the gold. Harry Lovett (Bobby Van) is a third-rate comic and song and dance man who has a flair for working with the children of Shangri-La. Everyone is content to stay except Conway's younger brother, George (Michael York). George has fallen in love with Maria (Olivia Hussey), a dancer, and wants to take her along when he leaves. Chang warns Richard that Maria came to Shangri-La over 80 years before, at the age of 20. If she were to leave the valley, she would revert to her actual age. Richard is summoned to meet the High Lama (Charles Boyer), who informs him that he was brought there for a reason, to succeed him as the leader of the community. However, on the night that the High Lama dies, George and Maria insist to Richard that everything the High Lama and Chang have said is a lie. They convince him to leave immediately. Still in shock from the High Lama's death, Richard leaves without even saying goodbye to Catherine. Not long after their departure, Maria suddenly ages and dies, and George, in grief over the death of his partner, commits suicide by falling to his death down an icy ravine. Richard struggles on alone, ending up in a hospital bed in the Himalayan foothills. He runs away, back to the mountains, and miraculously finds the portal to Shangri-La once more. 

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The film deals with struggles of a widow, Kanku (Pallavi Mehta). 

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Lawrence Jamieson is an intelligent and sophisticated British con artist operating in Beaumont-sur-Mer on the French Riviera; with the help of manservant Arthur and amoral police official Andre, he seduces wealthy women and steals their money. His only concern is another con artist known as "The Jackal", reported in the area. While on a train, Lawrence crosses paths with small-time, arrogant American hustler Freddy Benson, who brags about his meager accomplishments. Worried that Freddy's inexperienced antics will scare away his prey, Lawrence attempts to trick Freddy into choosing a different destination, then has him arrested and put on a plane out of town. However, after Freddy meets one of Lawrence's former marks, he blackmails Lawrence into taking him on as a pupil. Lawrence attempts to teach Freddy style and refinement, with limited success. He then involves Freddy in his cons, playing his mentally challenged brother Ruprecht to scare away women Lawrence has seduced (and now, in the new con, proposed to). When Lawrence refuses to give Freddy a cut of the profits, Freddy angrily quits, but still refuses to leave town. Lawrence is unwilling to share his territory with Freddy, so the two agree on a bet: the first to con $50,000 out of a selected mark wins, and the other must leave town. The two select Janet Colgate, a naïve American heiress newly arrived in town, as their target. Freddy poses as a psychosomatically crippled U.S. Navy veteran who needs $50,000 for treatment by the celebrated (fictional) Liechtenstein psychiatrist Dr. Emil Schaffhausen. When Janet shows sympathy to Freddy, Lawrence poses as Dr. Schaffhausen and agrees to treat Freddy, but stipulating that Janet pay his $50,000 fee directly to him. When Lawrence discovers that Janet is actually a contest winner on a paid vacation, and will have to liquidate most of her assets to pay for Freddy's treatment, he attempts to call off the bet, as he never cons women who cannot afford to lose the money he takes. Freddy counters with a new bet: Janet herself, with the first to bed her declared the winner. Lawrence refuses to seduce Janet, but bets instead that Freddy will fail to do so. Under the guise of continuing Freddy's treatment, Lawrence dances with Janet and taunts Freddy, raising the ire of some nearby British sailors, whom Freddy convinces to waylay Lawrence. He rushes to Janet's hotel room, where he demonstrates his love by standing and walking to her. However, Lawrence has secretly been present the whole time and declares Freddy cured. Ushering Freddy out of the room, he explains that the sailors released him after discovering that he is a Royal Naval Reserve officer. Lawrence leaves Freddy with the sailors, and puts Janet on a plane to America. Instead of boarding her flight, however, Janet returns to her hotel room to find Freddy there. She declares her love for him, and they kiss and begin undressing. The news reaches Lawrence, who accepts his defeat with grace. He waits for Freddy to return and gloat over his victory, but Janet arrives in tears instead. She tells him that Freddy stole the money her father sent. Disgusted, Lawrence compensates her with $50,000 of his own, calls Andre to have Freddy arrested, and takes Janet to the airport. As Janet is about to board the plane, she returns Lawrence's bag, refusing to take his money, and departs. The police arrive with Freddy, wearing nothing but a bathrobe, who claims Janet stole his wallet and clothes. Lawrence refuses to believe him, pointing out Janet's honesty that she returned Lawrence's bag and money. He then opens up the bag, finding Freddy's clothes and a note from Janet admitting to having taken the $50,000 and revealing herself as the Jackal. Freddy is furious, while Lawrence is impressed. The following week, Freddy and Lawrence contemplate their loss at Lawrence's villa. They are about to part ways when Janet, posing as a New York City real estate developer, arrives in a yacht filled with wealthy people. She prompts the shocked Lawrence and Freddy to assume roles in her scheme and, after sending her guests off to refresh themselves, takes the pair aside and announces that while she made three million dollars the previous year, "[their] fifty thousand was the most fun". Joining arms, they set out to fleece their latest victims. 

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Frenchmen Mario and Jo, German Bimba and Italian Luigi are stuck in the isolated town of Las Piedras. Surrounded by desert, the town is linked to the outside world only by an airstrip, but the airfare is beyond the means of the men. There is little opportunity for employment aside from the American corporation that dominates the town, Southern Oil Company (SOC), which operates the nearby oil fields and owns a walled compound within the town. SOC is suspected of unethical practices such as exploiting local workers and taking the law into its own hands, but the townspeople's dependence upon it is such that they suffer in silence. Mario is a sarcastic Corsican playboy, who treats his devoted lover, Linda, with disdain. Jo is an aging ex-gangster who just recently found himself stranded in the town. Bimba is an intense, quiet man whose father was murdered by the Nazis, and who himself worked for three years in a salt mine. Luigi, Mario's roommate, is a jovial, hardworking man, who has just learned that he is dying from cement dust in his lungs. Mario befriends Jo due to their common background of having lived in Paris, but a rift develops between Jo and the other cantina regulars because of his combative, arrogant personality. A massive fire erupts at one of the SOC oil fields. The only way to extinguish the flames and cap the well is an explosion caused by nitroglycerine. With short notice and lack of proper equipment, it must be transported within jerrycans placed in two large trucks from the SOC headquarters, 500 km (300 miles) away. Due to the poor condition of the roads and the highly volatile nature of nitroglycerine, the job is considered too dangerous for the unionized SOC employees. The company foreman, Bill O'Brien, recruits truck drivers from the local community. Despite the dangers, many of the locals volunteer, lured by the high pay: US$2,000 per driver. This is a fortune to them, and the money is seen by some as the only way out of their dead-end lives. The pool of applicants is narrowed down to four handpicked drivers: Mario, Bimba and Luigi are chosen, along with a German named Smerloff. Smerloff fails to appear on the appointed day, so Jo, who knows O' Brien from his bootlegging days, is substituted in his place. The other drivers suspect that Jo intimidated Smerloff in some way to facilitate his own hiring. Jo and Mario transport the nitroglycerin in one vehicle; Luigi and Bimba are in the other, with thirty minutes separating them in order to limit potential casualties. The drivers are forced to deal with a series of physical and mental obstacles, including a stretch of extremely rough road called "the washboard", a construction barricade that forces them to teeter around a rotten platform above a precipice, and a boulder blocking the road. Jo finds that his nerves are not what they used to be, and the others confront Jo about his increasing cowardice. Finally, Luigi and Bimba's truck explodes without warning, killing them both. Mario and Jo arrive at the scene of the explosion only to find a large crater rapidly filling with oil from a pipeline ruptured in the blast. Jo exits the vehicle to help Mario navigate through the oil- filled crater. The truck, however, is in danger of becoming bogged down and during their frantic attempts to prevent it from getting stuck, Mario runs over Jo. Although the vehicle is ultimately freed from the muck, Jo is mortally wounded. On their arrival at the oil field, Mario and Jo are hailed as heroes, but Jo is dead and Mario collapses from exhaustion. Upon his recovery, Mario heads home in the same truck, now freed of its dangerous cargo. He collects double the wages following his friends' deaths, and refuses the appointed chauffeur offered by SOC. Mario jubilantly drives down a mountain road, while a party is being held at the cantina back in town where Mario's friends eagerly await his arrival, which is expected to be in two hours. Mario swerves recklessly and intentionally, having cheated death so many times on the same road. Linda, dancing in the cantina, faints. Mario takes one corner too fast and plunges through the guardrail to his death. 

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The film opens with a prologue that consists of four segments described by critics as "vignettes". They show the principal characters in different parts of the world and provide their backstories. 

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The plot of Pincher Martin surrounds the survival and psychophysical, spiritual and existential plight of one Christopher Hadley "Pincher" Martin, a temporary naval lieutenant who believes himself to be the sole survivor of a military torpedo destroyer which sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean. At the start of the novel Martin is in the water and desperately fighting for his life. He is apparently saved after being providentially washed ashore a rocky mid-Atlantic islet. He deduces that his naval crew is dead and begins his grim struggle for survival but, as time goes by, a series of strange and increasingly terrifying events, which he at first dismisses as hallucinations, slowly provokes in him an existential crisis. Throughout the novel Golding juxtaposes themes of sanity and insanity, and reality and unreality. At first Martin is portrayed as a thinking individual, who uses his intelligence, education and training to source food, collect fresh water and alert any potential rescuers. It is in fact during this rational phase that Martin is at his most delusional. It is only when insanity takes hold that he begins to comprehend the reality of his predicament: 'There is a pattern emerging. I do not know what the pattern is but even my dim guess at it makes my reason falter'.William Golding, Pincher Martin (Faber 1962 edn.), p. 163 The novel's twist ending reveals that Martin actually drowned shortly after his ship was sunk; when his body is found, it is noted that "he didn't even have time to kick off his seaboots". This means that his struggle for survival on the island never actually happened, which changes the work into an allegory of purgatory and damnation. In the "Radio Times" of 21 March 1958, Golding explains that Martin driven by a selfish greed for life has continued to exist in another dimension: "His drowned body lies rolling in the Atlantic but the ravenous ego invents a rock for him to endure on". 

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David Gore becomes concerned that his twelve-year-old son, Matthew, is too old to have an imaginary friend. His concerns deepen as Matthew becomes increasingly distressed and blames it on arguments with this unseen companion, whom he calls "Chocky". As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the friend is far from imaginary, but is an alien consciousness communicating with Matthew's mind — a fact that is of interest to shadowy government forces. "Chocky" reveals that it is a scout sent from its home planet (where there is only one sex) in search of new planets to colonise, or to provide subtle guidance to newly-emerging intelligent life. "Chocky", talking through Matthew, explains to David that in becoming overly attached to Matthew and saving him and his sister from a recent accident, it has violated the rules of its scout mission (interfering with events on Earth) and must end its link with him completely. Its further work on Earth will be conducted in a much more covert manner. 

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The movie begins with an egotistical film director, played by director Maurizo Nichetti himself, discussing his latest film on an intellectual Italian TV channel which is about to broadcast it at short notice in place of a more highly regarded competitor’s. His "masterpiece" follows the bleak travails of a poverty-stricken unemployed man (again played by Nichetti) who finds work in a chandelier factory, but cannot resist stealing one of the gleaming lights for his wife. The pompous director is initially pleased with the seriousness with which his work is analysed, but he then becomes distraught when his black-and- white opus is repeatedly interrupted by full-colour commercials. The TV audience, watching in their homes, are completely oblivious of the interruptions and the "outrages" perpetrated on the director’s artistic intentions.James, Caryn (1990) "The Icicle Thief (1989)", New York Times, August 24, 1990. Retrieved 11 Sept. 2014Michael Brooke (no date). “The Icicle Thief (1989) Plot Summary”, IMDb (no date). Retrieved 12 Sept. 2014 

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Fugitive bank robber brothers Seth and Richie Gecko hold up a liquor store, killing clerk Pete Bottoms and Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in a shootout. They inadvertently destroy the building as they leave. At the motel room where they are hiding out, Seth returns to find Richie has raped and murdered a bank clerk they had taken hostage. Jacob Fuller, a pastor experiencing a crisis of faith, is on vacation with his teenage children Scott and Kate in their RV. They stop at the motel and are kidnapped by the Geckos, who force the Fullers to smuggle them over the Mexican border. In Mexico, they arrive at the Titty Twister, a strip club in the desert, where the Geckos will be met by their contact, Carlos, at dawn. Carlos will escort them to sanctuary at "El Rey", a place of safety for fugitives from justice whose admission fee is 30 percent of everything they have. When Richie complains to Seth that this is too high, Seth tells him it is non-negotiable. During a bar fight, the bar employees reveal themselves as vampires and kill most of the patrons. Richie is bitten by a stripper, Santanico Pandemonium and dies but Seth manages to kill her by shooting at a chandelier above her that impales her. Only Seth, Jacob, Kate, Scott, a biker named Sex Machine and Frost — a Vietnam veteran — survive. The others are reborn as vampires, including Richie, forcing the survivors to kill them all. When an army of vampires, in bat form, assembles outside, the survivors lock themselves inside but Sex Machine is bitten, becomes a vampire and bites Frost and Jacob. Frost throws Sex Machine through the door, allowing the vampires to enter while Frost turns into a vampire. Seth, Kate and Scott escape to a storeroom, followed shortly by an injured but still alive Jacob, brandishing a shotgun. In the storeroom, they fashion weapons from truck cargo the vampires have looted from past victims, including a stake mounted on a pneumatic drill, a crossbow and holy water, which requires Jacob to recover his faith to bless. Jacob, knowing he will soon become a vampire, makes Scott and Kate promise to kill him when he changes. The group makes their final assault on the undead. Sex Machine mutates into a large rat-like creature and attacks Seth but is killed. Jacob becomes a vampire but Scott hesitates to kill him, allowing Jacob to bite him. Scott hits Jacob with holy water and shoots him. Scott is overwhelmed by vampires, who begin to devour him; he begs for death and Kate shoots him. As vampires surround Kate and Seth, streams of morning light enter through bullet holes in the building, making the vampires back away. Carlos arrives and his bodyguards blast the door open, letting in the sunlight and killing the vampires. Seth chastises Carlos for his poor choice of meeting place and negotiates a smaller tribute for his admission to El Rey. Kate asks Seth if she can go with him to El Rey, but he refuses, apparently as a kindness, leaving her with some cash. Kate drives away in the RV, leaving the Titty Twister — revealed to be the top of a partially buried Aztec temple — behind. 

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A jock sneaks into his supposed girlfriend's house with flowers for her. It is cold inside and when he approaches his girlfriend's room he finds a dead man with his mouth wide open. He then spots two more corpses. Elsewhere, Luke Callahan and Roger, two college freshmen and virgins, are desperate to get laid. While doing their laundry after drinking too much beer, Luke meets two seductive girls named Lily and Constance. When Lily deliberately leaves a roll of quarters in the laundry, an inebriated and horny Luke goes to return them to her. He finds her room is unlocked and he decides to sneak in, finding that it is very cold inside. But when the girls suddenly return, he decides to hide in the closet. Luke watches as the girls open the windows and let the cold winter air surround them, seemingly arousing and comforting them as they strip naked, much to Luke's amusement. He then watches in horror and confusion as reptilian tentacles unfold from their chests and sexually arouse them while Constance sprays Lilly down with a can of liquid nitrogen. Luke, horrified and intrigued, decides to get to the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, the police find the body of a young man named Bobby from the college, frozen from the inside out and his mouth wide open with a look of terror on his face. He oddly also has a noticeable erection. The forensic scientists assume a "keg drinking tube" was shoved down his throat, not realizing it was actually Lily, who shoved her alien tentacle down his throat while having sex with him. Luke, with his girlfriend Alex, decide to try to find out what these aliens are and if needed, exterminate them. Luke and Roger's friend Gibby wanders into a cemetery with his girlfriend Natasha. They enter a mausoleum and begin to have sex on a cement slab. As Gibby ejaculates, Natasha reveals that she is an alien as her tentacles emerge from her chest and immobilize Gibby. a toothy ovipositor tentacle unfolds and is shoved down his throat as part of the alien mating process. After completing the mating process, Gibby freezes solid and dies, thus not surviving the mating process, much to Natasha's disappointment. In an effort to catch the aliens in the act and prove their existence, Luke and Alex hatch a plan to record them. Luke plants a camera in his bedroom and manages to get a very-horny Lily to go to bed with him. While Alex watches from a different room, Luke and Lily disrobe and prepare to have sex. As Lily mounts him, Luke notices a strange green organ between her breasts. The camera suddenly malfunctions, and Lily realizes she's being recorded. Angered, Lily prepares to rape Luke to death and unleashes her tentacles, but accidentally knocks over a candle, which starts a fire. Seemingly vulnerable to the heat, Lily screams and sheds her human form, letting Luke get a good look of what the aliens look like in their true form; humanoid reptilians. Lily escapes, but Luke and Alex fail to capture any evidence. Constance, meanwhile, becomes emotionally engaged with Roger, explains to him that the aliens have come to Earth to impregnate men, as their race is dying out. To save their people, the aliens persuade men to come with them, promising sex. However, the "mating" process involves sticking their tentacles down the male's throat. Most men die because they cannot survive the cold temperature. Roger allows Constance to "mate" with him after she explains everything as she has fallen in love with him when she wasn't supposed to. She explains that they're merely trying to survive and that they don't want anyone to die. He agrees to allow her to impregnate him, giving her race a chance to survive. Luke comes in just in time to see a baby alien crawl out of Roger's mouth. Roger dies soon after, leaving Constance horrified because she didn't want him to die. Luke has discovered that, while the aliens love the cold, they hate heat. Luke has also discovered that Gibby is dead at this point having been frozen by Natasha. Luke teams up with Detective Amanda (his former girlfriend) and obtains a home-made flamethrower, determined to put an end to the aliens' terror. Luke confronts the aliens and kills Natasha and Lily by burning them, not realizing the truth of their mission. He then chases Constance and confronts her, but the flamethrower runs out of propane. Seeing him vulnerable, Constance leaps on top of him, knocking him to the ground. She straddles him and beats him down, then releases her tentacles, preparing to throat-rape him. However, just before Luke is impregnated, Amanda shows up and shoots Constance, knocking her off. Using an ax, Luke breaks open high pressure pipes and kills Constance with steam. Luke now has solid evidence of the aliens' existence as there were witnesses who saw them in their true form, and he leaves Amanda to deal with them while he runs off with Alex. Alex takes Luke to her apartment, and the two profess their love for each other. They take off their clothes and prepare to have sex. Alex mounts Luke, and tells him she can finally have her way with him. There's a sudden flashback to the very beginning of the movie when the jock finds the dead men. He looks up and sees Alex who then says "You're early". Luke realizes Alex is an alien, minutes too late. He screams as she pins him down and her tentacles appear. The camera zooms out of the room as Luke's screams fade away as he is presumably raped and impregnated. 

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The story is about a lawsuit concerning injuries caused by a defective automobile. The suit takes on a personal dimension because the injured plaintiff's attorney, Jedediah Tucker Ward (Gene Hackman) discovers that the automobile manufacturer's attorney is his estranged daughter Maggie Ward (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). Jedediah Ward is a liberal civil rights lawyer who has based his career on helping people avoid being taken for a ride by the rich and powerful; he's pursued principle at the expense of profit, though he has a bad habit of not following up on his clients after their cases are settled. Jed's daughter, Maggie, has had a bad relationship with her father ever since she discovered that he was cheating on her mother, Estelle (Joanna Merlin), and while she also has made a career in law, she has taken a very different professional route by working for a high-powered corporate law firm and has adopted a self-interested political agenda. Jed is hired to help field a lawsuit against a major auto manufacturer whose station wagons have a dangerous propensity to explode on impact while making a left turn, but while his research indicates he has an all but airtight case against them, the case becomes more complicated for him when he discovers that Maggie is representing the firm he's suing. The auto manufacturer in the film also utilizes a "bean- counting" approach to risk management, whereby the projections of actuaries for probable deaths and injured car-owners is weighed against the cost of re- tooling and re-manufacturing the car without the defect (exploding gas tanks) with the resulting decision to keep the car as-is to positively benefit short term profitability. 

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On Christmas Eve, a baby boy at an orphanage crawls into Santa Claus's sack, and is unwittingly transported back to the North Pole. When the baby is discovered at the workshop, the elves name him Buddy after the brand label on his diaper, and Papa Elf adopts and raises him. Buddy grows up at the North Pole, believing he is an elf and accepted by the elf community, but due to his human size, he is unable to keep up with the other elves and demoted to the demeaning job of toy testing. Soon, Buddy overhears that he is a human, and Papa Elf explains that Buddy was born to Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells and given up for adoption. Susan subsequently died, and Walter, who now works as a children's book publisher at the Empire State Building in New York City, is unaware of Buddy's existence. To Buddy's horror, Santa reveals that Walter is on the naughty list due to his selfish and unscrupulous demeanor, but suggests Buddy could help redeem him. Buddy promptly travels to New York and finds his father at work, but even after he mentions Susan Wells, Walter misinterprets him as a dysfunctional christmas-gram messenger and has him kicked out of the premises. Inspired by a sarcastic remark from a security guard, Buddy heads to a local Gimbels department store, where the manager mistakes him for an employee. At the store's Santa Land, he meets Jovie, an unenthusiastic employee with whom he is instantly smitten. After hearing that Santa will be at the store the following day, Buddy jubilantly decorates Santa Land overnight. When Buddy realizes that the Gimbels Santa is not the real Santa, he unmasks him and causes a wild tumult in the store that lands Buddy in jail. Walter reluctantly bails Buddy out and takes him to a doctor for a DNA test, which confirms that Buddy is in fact his long-lost son. The doctor convinces Walter to take Buddy home to meet his stepmother Emily and twelve-year-old half-brother Michael, believing once he is faced with reality he will drop the “elf thing” and move on as a regular adult. Walter and Michael are put off by Buddy's strange behavior, but Emily insists that they care for him until he "recovers." Michael eventually warms up to Buddy after Buddy defends him from a gang of bullies in a snowball fight, and Michael encourages Buddy to ask Jovie on a date, which she accepts. During the date, the two fall in love. Meanwhile, Walter's company is in trouble after their most recent book fails to sell. Walter's boss, Fulton Greenway, lays down a hard deadline for Walter to have a new book ready by Christmas Eve. In desperation, Walter and his team secure a meeting with best-selling children's author Miles Finch. Buddy interrupts the meeting to boast of his newfound love and mistakes Finch, who has dwarfism, for an elf. Buddy unintentionally insults Finch and pesters him into losing his temper. An angered and insulted Finch attacks Buddy and walks out on Walter, who snaps in anger at Buddy for ruining the meeting and harshly disowns him. Heartbroken, Buddy leaves a note for Walter, Emily, and Michael on an Etch A Sketch and wanders about in the streets, lamenting that he does not fit in anywhere. On Christmas Eve, after finding Finch's notebook full of ideas, Walter and his team scramble to create a book to pitch. As Walter prepares to pitch the book to Greenway that evening, Michael, who found Buddy's note, arrives and informs Walter that Buddy is gone. Realizing he was wrong and forced to choose between his job or his family, Walter quits his job and leaves with Michael to find Buddy. As Buddy wanders the streets, he watches Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park, attracting a large crowd. Buddy tracks down Santa, who explains that the sleigh has lost its engine and cannot fly without it due to a shortage of Christmas spirit. Buddy finds the engine and is reunited with Walter and Michael. Walter apologizes to Buddy and accepts him as his son. Buddy then takes them to meet Santa, who proves himself to Michael by showing him what he truly wanted for Christmas. Michael takes Santa's list and reads it in front of television news cameras gathered outside the park, proving that Santa Claus is real. The Central Park Rangers, who have a grudge against Santa for placing them on the naughty list, chase the sleigh as Buddy tries to reattach the engine. Jovie leads the crowd in singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," helping raise enough Christmas spirit to fully power the sleigh without the engine for the first time in years. By the next Christmas, Walter starts his own publishing company with a best- selling book about Buddy's stories. Buddy and Jovie, now married, bring their newborn daughter Susie to visit Papa Elf. 

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The action is set in the Hall of David Bliss's house at Cookham, Berkshire, by the River Thames. 

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The movie opens with a German children's song, "Hänschen klein", mixed with black-and-white footage of prewar and war scenes. It then segues to colour and a German platoon raid on a Russian forward outpost led by Sergeant Rolf Steiner, during which his men capture a Russian boy-soldier. An aristocratic Prussian officer, Captain Stransky, arrives as the new commander of Steiner's infantry battalion, which is stationed in the Kuban bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula. Stransky proudly tells the regimental commander, Colonel Brandt, and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel, that he applied for transfer from occupied France to front line duty in Russia so that he can win the Iron Cross. When Stransky meets Steiner for the first time, he orders Steiner to shoot the boy prisoner in strict observance of a standing order. When Steiner refuses, Stransky prepares to shoot the boy himself, but at the last moment, Corporal Schnurrbart saves the boy by volunteering to do it and taking him out of Stransky's sight. Later, Stransky informs Steiner that he has been promoted to senior sergeant, and is puzzled by Steiner's nonchalant response. Stransky also discerns that his adjutant, Lieutenant Triebig, is a closet homosexual. While waiting for an anticipated attack, Steiner releases the young Russian, only to see the boy killed by advancing Soviet troops. As Stransky cowers in his bunker, Lieutenant Meyer, the respected leader of Steiner's platoon, is killed while leading a successful counterattack. Steiner is wounded in the same battle trying to rescue a German soldier and is sent to a military hospital to recover. There, he is haunted by the faces of the dead men and the boy (in a dream sequence prior to waking from a coma), and has a romantic liaison with his nurse Eva. After he has recovered, Steiner is offered a home leave, but decides instead to return to his men. When he arrives, Steiner is informed that Stransky has claimed that he, not Meyer, led the successful counterattack, and has been nominated for the Iron Cross. Stransky named as witnesses Triebig (blackmailing him with his homosexuality), and Steiner. Stransky tries to persuade Steiner to corroborate his claim by promising to look after him after the war. Brandt questions Steiner in the hope that he will expose Stransky's lies, but Steiner only states that he hates all officers, even those as "enlightened" as Brandt and Kiesel, and requests a few days to ponder his answer. When his battalion is ordered to retreat, Stransky does not notify Steiner's platoon and leaves them behind. Making their way back through now-enemy territory, the men capture an all-female Russian detachment. While Steiner is busy, Zoll, a despised Nazi Party member, takes one of the women into the barn to rape her. She bites his genitals and he kills her. Meanwhile, young Dietz, left to guard the rest of the women alone, is distracted and killed as well. Disgusted, Steiner locks Zoll up with the vengeful Russian women, taking their uniforms to use as a disguise. As the men near the German lines, they radio ahead to avoid friendly fire. Stransky suggests to Triebig that Steiner and his men be 'mistaken' for Russians. Triebig orders his men to shoot the incoming Germans; only Steiner, Krüger and Anselm survive. Triebig denies responsibility, but Steiner kills him and makes Krüger the 'platoon leader', telling him to look after Anselm. Steiner then goes hunting for Stransky. The Soviets launch a major assault. Brandt orders Kiesel to evacuate, telling him that men like him will be needed to rebuild Germany after the war. Brandt then rallies the fleeing troops for a counterattack. Steiner locates Stransky. But instead of killing him, he hands him a weapon, and offers to show him "where the iron crosses grow". Stransky accepts Steiner's "challenge", and they head off together for the battle. The film closes with Stransky trying to figure out how to reload his MP40, while being shot at by an adolescent Russian soldier who resembles the boy-soldier released by Steiner. When Stransky asks Steiner for help, Steiner begins to laugh. His laughter continues through the credits, which features "Hänschen klein" again and segues to black-and-white images of civilian victims from World War II and later conflicts. 

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DEA agents collect MI6 agent James Bond and his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter, on their way to Leiter's wedding in Key West, to have them assist in capturing drugs lord Franz Sanchez. Bond and Leiter capture Sanchez by attaching a hook and cord to Sanchez's plane and pulling it out of the air with a Coast Guard helicopter. Afterwards, Bond and Leiter parachute down to the church in time for the ceremony. Sanchez bribes DEA agent Ed Killifer and escapes. Meanwhile, Sanchez's henchman Dario and his crew ambush Leiter and his wife Della and take Leiter to an aquarium owned by one of Sanchez's accomplices, Milton Krest. Sanchez has Leiter lowered into a tank holding a tiger shark. When Bond learns Sanchez has escaped, he returns to Leiter's house to find Leiter has been maimed and that Della has been murdered—and by implication raped. Bond, with Leiter's friend Sharkey, start their own investigation. They discover a marine research centre run by Krest, where Sanchez has hidden cocaine and a submarine for smuggling. After Bond kills Killifer using the same shark tank used for Leiter, M meets Bond in Key West's Hemingway House and orders him to an assignment in Istanbul, Turkey. Bond resigns after turning down the assignment, but M suspends Bond instead and revokes his licence to kill. Bond becomes a rogue agent, although he later receives unauthorised assistance from Q. Bond boards Krest's ship Wavekrest and foils Sanchez's latest drug shipment, stealing five million dollars in the process. He discovers that Sharkey has been killed by Sanchez's henchmen. Bond meets and teams up with Pam Bouvier, an ex-CIA agent and pilot, at a Bimini bar, and journeys with her to the Republic of Isthmus. He seeks Sanchez's employment by posing as an assassin for hire. Two Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau officers foil Bond's attempt to assassinate Sanchez and take him to an abandoned warehouse. They are joined by Fallon, an MI6 agent who was sent by M to apprehend Bond. Sanchez's men rescue him and kill the officers, believing them to be the assassins. Later, with the aid of Bouvier, Q, and Sanchez's girlfriend Lupe Lamora, Bond frames Krest by planting the $5 million in Wavekrest. Sanchez shuts Krest into a decompression chamber and cuts the oxygen cord, causing Krest to explosively decompress to his death. Bond is then admitted into the inner circle. Sanchez takes Bond to his base, which is disguised as the headquarters of a religious cult. Bond learns that Sanchez's scientists can dissolve cocaine in petrol and then sell it disguised as fuel to Asian drug dealers. The televangelist Joe Butcher serves as middleman, working under Sanchez's business manager Truman- Lodge, who uses Butcher's TV broadcasts to communicate with Sanchez's customers in the United States. During Sanchez's presentation to potential Asian customers, Dario discovers Bond and betrays him to Sanchez. Bond starts a fire in the laboratory, but is captured again and placed on the conveyor belt that drops the brick-cocaine into a giant shredder. Bouvier arrives and shoots Dario, allowing Bond to pull Dario into the shredder, killing him. Sanchez flees as fire consumes his base, taking with him four tankers full of the cocaine and petrol mixture. Bond pursues them by plane, with Bouvier at the controls. During the course of a stunt-filled chase through the desert, Bond destroys three of the tankers and kills several of Sanchez's men. Sanchez attacks Bond with a machete aboard the final remaining tanker, which crashes down a hillside. A petrol-soaked Sanchez attempts to kill Bond with his machete. Bond then reveals his cigarette lighter—the Leiters' gift for being the best man at their wedding—and sets Sanchez on fire. Burning alive, Sanchez stumbles into the wrecked tanker, destroying it. Bouvier arrives shortly afterward, and picks up Bond. Later, a party is held at Sanchez's former residence. Bond receives a call from Leiter telling him that M has congratulated him for his work and offers him his job back. He then rejects Lupe's advances and romances Bouvier instead. 

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Agnes Grey is the daughter of Mr. Grey, a minister of modest means, and Mrs. Grey, a woman who left her wealthy family and married purely out of love. Mr. Grey tries to increase the family's financial standing, but the merchant he entrusts his money to dies in a wreck, and the lost investment plunges the family into debt. Agnes, her sister Mary, and their mother all try to keep expenses low and bring in extra money, but Agnes is frustrated that everyone treats her like a child. To prove herself and to earn money, she is determined to get a position as a governess. Eventually, she obtains a recommendation from a well-placed acquaintance, is offered a position, and secures her parents' permission. With some misgivings, she travels to Wellwood house to work for the Bloomfield family. The Bloomfields are rich and much crueller than Agnes had expected. Mrs. Bloomfield spoils her children while Mr. Bloomfield constantly finds fault with Agnes's work. The children are unruly and Agnes is held accountable for them despite being given no real authority over them. Tom, the oldest Bloomfield child, is particularly abusive and even tortures small animals. In less than a year, Agnes is relieved of her position, since Mrs. Bloomfield thinks that her children are not learning quickly enough. Agnes returns home. She then begs her mother to help her find a new situation. Agnes advertises and is given a position in an even wealthier family – the Murrays. The two boys, John and Charles, are both sent to school soon after her arrival, but the girls Rosalie and Matilda remain her charges. Matilda is a tomboy and Rosalie is a flirt. Both girls are selfish and sometimes unpleasant, and although Agnes's position is slightly better than it was at Wellwood house, she is frequently ignored or used in the girls' schemes. Agnes begins to visit Nancy Brown, an old woman with poor eyesight who needs help reading the Bible; there Agnes meets the new curate, Mr. Edward Weston. The next day while on a walk Agnes is surprised by Mr. Weston, who picks some wild primroses for her. Agnes later saves one of the flowers in her Bible. She learns that his mother has died not long ago. This new friendship is noticed by Rosalie Murray, who has now entered into society and is a favourite with nearly all suitors in the county. Rosalie becomes engaged to Sir Thomas Ashby, a wealthy baronet from Ashby Park. She tells Agnes, but makes her promise to keep silent, as she is still going to flirt with other men before she is married. One day, she and Agnes go on a walk and meet Mr. Weston. Rosalie begins to flirt with him, much to Agnes's chagrin. Agnes receives a note from her sister Mary, who is now married to Mr. Richardson, a parson of a rectory near their home. Mary warns that their father is dying and begs Agnes to come. Agnes arrives too late to see her father alive. After his funeral, Agnes opens a small school with her mother, leaving behind the Murrays and Mr. Weston. She receives a letter from Rosalie who is very unhappy in her marriage and asks Agnes to come for a visit. Agnes is shocked by the change in Rosalie from a merry girl to an unhappy young woman. Rosalie confides that she despises Sir Thomas Ashby (and her mother-in-law), and claims he only left London because he was jealous of all the gentlemen she was attracting. Agnes also hears that Mr. Weston has left the area, and she grieves, believing she will not be able to see him again. Agnes leaves Ashby Park and returns home. Several months after she arrives, she goes for a walk on the sea shore and encounters Mr. Weston, who had been looking for her since he moved to the nearby parsonage. He is introduced to Agnes's mother, and they forge a bond. Agnes finds her attraction to him growing, and she accepts when he proposes marriage. In the end, Agnes is very happy having married Edward Weston, and they have three children together. 

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Maggie (Karyn Dwyer) has moved out on her own and has started a relationship with Kim (Christina Cox). Maggie's mother Lila (Wendy Crewson) and brother are forced to move into her loft sublet with her, but unaware that she is a lesbian. Maggie's freedom is compromised, and she believes she must keep her blossoming affair a secret. The clandestine romance introduces Maggie's family to a host of new experiences, many of which are "better than chocolate". The story features Judy, a friend of Maggie's who is a transgender woman. Judy develops a friendship with Maggie's Mum and helps her to repair her relationship with her daughter. Judy's love interest is Frances, owner of the book shop in which Maggie works and purveyor of lesbian literature. 

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Recently divorced Meg Altman, and her eleven-year-old daughter, Sarah, move into a four-story brownstone in New York City's Upper West Side. The house's previous owner, a reclusive millionaire, installed a "panic room" to protect the occupants from intruders. The room is protected by concrete and steel on all sides and a thick steel door and has an extensive security system with multiple surveillance cameras, a public address (P.A.) system, and a separate phone line. On the night the two move into the house, Junior, the previous owner's grandson; Burnham, an employee of the residence's security company; and Raoul, a vicious hitman Junior recruited, break in. They are after $3 million in bearer bonds locked inside a floor safe in the panic room. Junior has miscalculated when the new occupants would move in, but he convinces a reluctant Burnham to continue the heist, who had immediately sought to abandon the heist upon learning of the family's presence. Meg wakes up and happens to see the three men on the panic room video monitors. Meg gets Sarah and they get into the panic room, barely locking the door in time. They are unable to call for help because the dedicated phone line is not hooked up. To force the two out, Burnham pumps propane gas into the room's air vents. However, a trigger-happy Raoul dangerously increases the amount. Unable to seal the vents, Meg ignites the gas, while she and Sarah cover themselves with fireproof blankets, sending the ignited propane through the hose into the tank, blowing up the tank and leaving Junior badly burned. The Altmans make several attempts to summon help, including unsuccessfully signaling a neighbor with a flashlight through a ventilation pipe. Meg taps into the main telephone line and calls her ex-husband, Stephen, but the intruders cut the main line, abruptly ending the call. All attempts to get into the room fail, and Junior gives up on the robbery while letting slip that there is far more money in the safe than he indicated. As Junior is about to leave, Raoul fatally shoots him, then forces Burnham to finish the robbery. Stephen arrives and immediately is taken hostage. Raoul severely beats him, making sure Meg can see it on the security camera. Sarah, a diabetic, suffers a seizure. Her emergency glucagon syringes are kept in her bedroom. Knowing that Meg wants something outside, Raoul tricks Meg into thinking it is safe to temporarily leave the panic room. While she goes to get Sarah's med kit, Burnham finds Sarah nearly unconscious on the floor. After retrieving the med kit, Meg struggles briefly with Raoul, who is thrown into the panic room, his gun knocked from his hand. Meg throws the kit into the panic room just as Burnham locks himself, Raoul, and Sarah inside, crushing Raoul's fingers in the sliding steel door. Meg, who now has the gun, begs the intruders over the PA system to give Sarah the injection. Burnham, not wanting to hurt anyone, injects Sarah, telling her he only participated in the robbery to help his child. He informs Meg that Sarah is alright. Following up on Stephen's earlier 911 call, two policemen arrive at the door. To protect Sarah, Meg convinces the officers to leave. Burnham opens the safe and finds $22 million in bearer bonds inside. As the burglars attempt to leave using Sarah as a hostage, Meg rigs booby traps, leading to an ambush where she knocks Raoul over a banister and into a stairwell with a sledgehammer. As Burnham flees, Raoul crawls back and overpowers Meg, preparing to bludgeon her with the sledgehammer. Burnham, hearing Sarah screaming, rushes back and shoots Raoul in the back of the head, killing him instantly. The police, alerted by Meg's earlier odd behavior, arrive in force and apprehend Burnham, who drops the bearer bonds that scatter in the wind. Later, Meg and Sarah, recovered from their harrowing ordeal, search the newspaper for a new home. 

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The world has been enslaved by Murk, and players are challenged to free it by collecting the seven fragments of a tablet which are in the possession of seven wizards who inhabit seven towers. 

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High-schoolers David and his sister Jennifer lead very different lives: Jennifer is shallow, popular and outgoing, while the introverted David spends most of his time watching Pleasantville, a black-and-white 1950’s sitcom about the idyllic Parker family. One evening while their mother is away, David and Jennifer fight over the television, breaking the remote control. A mysterious TV repairman arrives and, impressed by David’s knowledge of Pleasantville, gives him a strange remote control before departing. When they use the remote control, David and Jennifer are transported into the black-and-white world of Pleasantville, finding themselves in the Parkers’ living room. David tries to reason with the repairman, communicating through the Parkers' television, but the repairman declares that the world of Pleasantville is better than the real world and they should be lucky to live in it. Forced to act as the show’s characters Bud and Mary Sue Parker, David and Jennifer explore the wholesome but peculiar town – fire does not exist and firefighters merely rescue cats from trees, and the citizens of Pleasantville are unaware that anything exists outside of their town, as all roads circle back with no escape. David tells Jennifer they must stay in character and not disrupt the town. Trying to maintain the show's plot, Jennifer dates a boy from school but has sex with him, a concept unknown to him and everyone else in town. Slowly, parts of Pleasantville change from black-and-white to color, including flowers and the faces of people who experience new bursts of emotion and foreign concepts such as books, fire and rain begin to appear. After Jennifer introduces sex to her peers, many of her classmates go to Lover's Lane to engage in sex, becoming "colored" in the process. David introduces Bill Johnson, owner of the soda fountain where Bud works, to colorful modern art via a book from the library, sparking Bill’s interest in painting. After learning of sex and masturbation from Jennifer, Betty pleasures herself while bathing and, upon reaching orgasm, sees color and eventually becomes "colored" herself. Bill and Betty fall in love and she leaves home, bewildering her husband George. Only the town fathers remain unchanged, led by the mayor Big Bob, who views the changes as a threat to Pleasantville’s values, and resolve to do something about their increasingly independent wives and rebellious children. As the townsfolk become more colorful, a ban on "colored" people is initiated in public venues. A riot is ignited by Bill’s nude painting of Betty on the window of his malt shop. The soda fountain is destroyed, books are burned, and people who are "colored" are harassed in the street, while Betty is harassed by non-colored teenage boys. The town fathers forbid people from visiting the library, playing loud music or using colorful paint. In protest, David and Bill paint a colorful mural depicting their world, prompting their arrest. Brought to trial in front of the entire town, David and Bill defend their actions and arouse enough anger and indignation in Big Bob that he becomes colored as well and flees. Celebrating their victory, David notices that the television store now sells color televisions, broadcasting new programs and footage of other countries and that the town's roads now lead to other cities. With Pleasantville changed, Jennifer chooses to continue her new life in the TV world. Bidding farewell to his sister, his new girlfriend and Betty, David uses the remote control to return to the real world. He comforts his mother, who had left to meet a man only to get cold feet and assures her that nothing has to be perfect. A montage reveals the citizens of Pleasantville enjoying their new lives, including Jennifer/Mary Sue attending college, while Betty, George and Bill contemplate the future. 

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The Zeta Project follows the exploits of Zeta and Ro as they attempt to prove that he is genuinely non-violent, whereas the NSA agents pursuing him believe that the terrorists he was investigating before going rogue have reprogrammed him for some unknown purpose. To prove his innocence, Zeta and Ro search for his creator, the elusive Dr. Selig. 

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Rose and her boyfriend Hart get into a motorcycle accident in the Quebec countryside, caused by a van parked in the middle of the road. While Hart suffers a broken hand, a separated shoulder and a concussion, Rose is severely injured and burned by the incident. They are both transported to the nearby Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery, where head doctor Dan Keloid decides to perform a radical new procedure on Rose. He uses morphogenetically neutral grafts to her chest and abdomen in the hope that it will differentiate and replace the damaged skin and organs. One month later, Hart is released while Rose remains in a coma. Rose abruptly awakens from her coma screaming, prompting patient Lloyd Walsh to calm her down and hold her hand, but she pierces his skin as she holds him. When asked, Lloyd cannot remember anything afterwards and the doctor does not know what caused the injury on his right arm; it is only known that his blood is not clotting from the wound and he cannot feel anything on his right side. While Keloid transfers him to Montreal General Hospital for further evaluation, his experimental procedures on Rose have caused a mutation in her body that made her able to only subsist on human blood. A new organ resembling a red stinger emerges from a small orifice below Rose's armpit; it pierces her victims and draws their blood. One night, Rose leaves the clinic to feed upon a nearby cow's blood, which makes her vomit. A drunken farmer tries to attack her, but she pierces and feeds on him before calling Hart to pick her up. The next day, the farmer turns into a pale zombie-like monster and attacks a waitress at a nearby diner. Lloyd discharges himself from the clinic. While taking a taxi to the airport, he begins foaming at the mouth and attacks the driver. The car crashes into the freeway before a nearby truck kills them both. At the clinic, Keloid is infected by Rose's stinger and attacks from within, which causes panic. During this time, Rose escapes from the hospital despite calling Hart to come to her aid, and hitchhikes rides from various people to Montreal. She infects one of the truck drivers, causing the driver to attack his colleague. Hart and Keloid's business partner, Murray Cypher, while searching for Rose, meet up with police chief Claude LePointe and public health officials in talks about an upcoming epidemic. During this time, Hart witnesses an officer become infected before being shot by uninfected police officers. He calls Rose's friend Mindy and asks her to keep Rose in her apartment if she appears until he can come over. Rose arrives in the city and stays in Mindy's apartment. While Mindy watches a television broadcast detailing a new strain of rabies now all over Montreal, Rose goes to a sex cinema and infects a leering patron. LePointe, while riding a limousine with local health officials, is attacked by two infected crewmen who use a jackhammer through the vehicle door and drag the driver out to feed on him. The other official and LePointe, forced to leave their driver behind, escape by driving in reverse. With the infection becoming worse in the city, and the standard rabies treatment having no effect, Dr. Royce Gentry advises a shoot- to-kill policy to prevent future infections. Extreme martial law is declared within Montreal, and the doctor works on developing a cure. National Guard road blocks are set to check for infected people, and a convoy of NBC-suited soldiers ride into the city to assist the authorities with body disposal. Murray and Hart arrive at the former's home and as Hart drives away in Murray's car, Murray calls for his wife, but there is no answer. Murray wanders into his baby's nursery where he finds what is left of his baby and is attacked by his infected wife. Hart goes into the deserted city to search for Rose. An infected civilian jumps onto Hart's car before being shot, and the bio-warfare suited soldiers spray disinfectant on his car before permitting him to continue driving. Mindy watches a report which says that a possible carrier of the infection may be immune and has been traced back to the Keloid Clinic. Rose walks into the room and feeds on Mindy. Hart finds Rose in the act and tries to reason with her about treatment, but she refuses to believe him and is in denial that she is responsible for the epidemic that has now claimed many people. He chases her in the apartment, but he is rendered unconscious and she infects a man waiting in the apartment lobby. When Hart awakens, Rose brings the newly infected man to his apartment and locks herself inside the room before calling Hart about her plan; she wants to test Hart's accusation and see if the man turns infected or not. While Hart frantically tells her to leave the apartment and hopelessly sits at the receiver, the infected man awakens and attacks Rose. The next morning, Rose's corpse is found by the bio-ware suited soldiers in an alleyway and they dump her in a garbage truck. 

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Psychotherapist Hal Raglan runs the Somafree Institute where he performs a technique called "psychoplasmics", encouraging patients with mental disturbances to let go of their suppressed emotions through physiological changes to their bodies. One of his patients is Nola Carveth, a severely disturbed woman who is legally embattled with her husband Frank for custody of their five-year-old daughter Candice. When Frank discovers bruises and scratches on Candice following a visit with Nola, he informs Raglan of his intent to stop visitation rights. Wanting to protect his patient, Raglan begins to intensify the sessions with Nola to resolve the issue quickly. During the therapy sessions, Raglan discovers that Nola was physically and verbally abused by her self-pitying alcoholic mother, and neglected by her co-dependent alcoholic father, who refused to protect Nola out of shame and denial. Meanwhile, Frank, intending to invalidate Raglan's methods, questions Jan Hartog, a former Somafree patient dying of psychoplasmic-induced lymphoma. Frank leaves Candice with her maternal grandmother, Juliana, and the two spend the evening viewing old photographs. Later, Juliana informs Candice that Nola was frequently hospitalized as a child, and often exhibited strange unexplained wheals on her skin that doctors were unable to diagnose. While in the kitchen, Juliana is attacked and bludgeoned to death by a small, dwarf-like child. Candice is traumatized, but otherwise unharmed. Juliana's ex-husband Barton returns for the funeral, and attempts to contact Nola at Somafree, but Raglan turns him away. Frank invites Candice's teacher Ruth Mayer home for dinner to discuss his daughter's performance in school, but Barton interrupts with a drunken phone call from Juliana's home, demanding that they both go to Somafree to see Nola. Frank leaves to console Barton, leaving Candice in Ruth's care. While he is away, Ruth answers a phone call from Nola, who, recognizing her voice and believing her to be carrying on an affair with Frank, insults her and angrily warns her to stay away from her family. Meanwhile, Frank arrives to find Barton murdered by the same deformed dwarf-child, who dies after attempting to kill Frank. The police autopsy of the dwarf-child reveals a multitude of bizarre anatomical anomalies: the creature is asexual, supposedly color-blind, naturally toothless, and devoid of a navel, indicating no known means of natural human birth. After the murder story reaches the newspapers, Raglan reluctantly acknowledges that the murders coincide with his sessions with Nola relating to their respective topics. He closes Somafree and sends his patients to municipal care with the exception of Nola. Frank is alerted of the closure of Somafree by Hartog. Mike, one of the patients forced to leave the institute, tells Frank that Nola is Raglan's "queen bee" and in charge of some "disturbed children" in an attic. When Candice returns to school, two dwarf children attack and kill Ruth in front of her class, and abscond with Candice to Somafree, with Frank in pursuit. Upon arriving at Somafree, Raglan tells Frank the truth about the dwarf children: they are the accidental product of Nola's psychoplasmic sessions; Nola's rage about her abuse was so strong that she parthenogenetically bore a brood of children who psychically respond and act on the targets of her rage, with Nola completely unaware of their actions. Realizing the brood are too dangerous to keep anymore, Raglan plots to venture into their quarters and rescue Candice, provided that Frank can keep Nola calm to avoid provoking the children. Frank attempts a feigned rapprochement long enough for Raglan to collect Candice, but when he witnesses Nola give birth to another child through a psychoplasmically-induced external womb, she notices his disgust when she licks the child clean. The brood awakens and kills Raglan. Nola then threatens to kill Candice rather than lose her. The brood goes after Candice who hides in a closet, but the brood begins to break through the door and try to grab her. In desperation, Frank strangles Nola to death, and the brood dies without its mother's psychic connection. Frank carries a visibly traumatized Candice back to his car, and the two depart. As the pair sit in silence, two small lesions—a germinal stage of the phenomenon experienced by Nola—appear on Candice's arm. 

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In the town of Castle Rock, New Hampshire, John Smith, a young schoolteacher, is in love with his colleague Sarah Bracknell. After having a headache following a ride on a roller coaster, Johnny politely declines when Sarah asks if he wants to spend the night with her. As he drives home through stormy weather, he has a car accident that leaves him in a coma. He awakens under the care of neurologist Dr. Sam Weizak and finds that five years have passed. His mother has become deeply religious following his injuries and is now weak in health herself. Sarah is now married and has a 10-month old child, Dennis. Johnny soon discovers he now has the psychic ability to learn aspects of a person's life through physical contact with them. Touching a nurse's hand, he has a vision of her daughter trapped in their home which is on fire. Thanks to this warning, the nurse is able to alert the fire department and save her child. Later, Johnny sees that Weizak's mother, long thought to have died during World War II, is still alive, a fact the doctor later confirms for himself. Weizak concludes Johnny has unlocked a very new human ability "or a very old one." As the news media becomes interested in Johnny's predictions, he attempts to dissuade their interest by telling them he is not a psychic and not offering such services, he simply has "a feeling" sometimes when he touches people. An arrogant reporter demands a demonstration. When Johnny reveals knowledge that the reporter's sister committed suicide, the man becomes frightened and angry. Seeing the confrontation on the news, Johnny's mother has a heart attack. She then dies when Johnny visits in the hospital. He moves in with his father afterward. Some time later, Johnny is asked by Castle Rock Sheriff George Bannerman for help with a series of murders by a serial killer, believing someone with a "gift" from God such as psychic abilities should use them to help. Johnny declines, not seeing his power as a gift and wishing to be left alone. Later, Sarah visits with her infant son Dennis. While the boy sleeps, she and Johnny consummate their relationship. After they share dinner with Johnny's father, he asks her before she leaves, "Am I gonna see you again?" She replies, "Not like today." Having a change of heart about the murders, Johnny journeys to Castle Rock to help Bannerman. As he examines a new crime scene, a vision reveals the killer is Bannerman's deputy Frank Dodd. Before they can arrest him, Dodd kills himself. Johnny is then shot and wounded by Dodd's mother, who knew of her son's crimes and thinks Johnny is the devil. She in turn is killed by Bannerman. A disillusioned Johnny, now barely able to walk, moves away and attempts to live a more isolated life. Weizak visits him and believes his health is failing as his power increases, as if it is draining his life. Johnny takes on tutoring jobs for children, working from home until a wealthy man named Roger Stuart implores him to tutor his son, Chris. The tutoring goes well and Johnny comes to care for the boy. One day, he has a vision of Chris and two other boys falling through the ice of a local pond during hockey practice and drowning. He implores Stuart, who organized and financed the team, to cancel the practice. When Chris says he believes Johnny, Stuart seemingly concedes but fires the tutor. Stuart later reveals to his son that he lied to Johnny and will not cancel practice. Chris insists on staying home anyway, believing Johnny, and Stuart attends practice without him. The other two boys indeed fall through the ice and drown, much to Stuart's shock. Later on, Johnny attends a rally for Greg Stillson, a superficially charismatic third-party candidate for the United States Senate, for whom Sarah and her husband volunteer. (Stillson is, in actuality, a ruthless demagogue.) Johnny shakes Stillson's hand and has a vision of his future. He sees Stillson becoming President of the United States and then, after dreaming that God has spoken to him, ordering a preemptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, resulting in a nuclear holocaust. Johnny seeks out Weizak's advice, asking if the doctor would have killed Adolf Hitler before his rise to power if he had the chance, knowing in advance the atrocities Nazi Germany would commit. Weizak replies that he would have had no choice but to kill him in order to save lives and prevent harm. Johnny brings up the fact that stopping Hitler could result in sacrificing one's own life in the process, but Weizak believes such sacrifice would be necessary. Johnny also reveals that visions of the future include a blind spot, a "dead zone," and that he saw such a dead zone when he foresaw young Chris's death. After learning that Chris's death was prevented after Johnny's vision, Weizak hypothesizes the dead zone is an indicator that the future is not set and can be altered. Johnny leaves Sarah a letter, telling her that what he is about to do will cost him his life, but that it will be a sacrifice he is willing to make. He takes position in a balcony at Stillson's next rally, where Sarah and her family are in attendance, and takes aim at the politician. Johnny's shot misses and Stillson instinctively grabs Sarah's baby, holding him up as a human shield. Johnny refuses to risk shooting the child. Meanwhile, a photographer snaps a picture of Stillson holding Dennis. Sarah gets her baby back and Johnny attempts to kill Stillson again but is shot down by his security and falls from the balcony. Confronted by an angry Stillson, Johnny grabs his hand. He now foresees Stillson's reputation and political ambitions ruined by the published photograph of his cowardly act of using a child as a shield, which leads the despondent politician to commit suicide. As Stillson leaves, Johnny is satisfied he has prevented a nuclear apocalypse. Sarah embraces him and tells him she loves him as he dies. 

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In a dilapidated apartment building in a post-apocalyptic France, food is in short supply and grain is used as currency. On the ground floor is a butcher's shop, run by the landlord, Clapet, who posts job opportunities in the Hard Times paper as means to lure victims to the building, whom he murders and butchers as a cheap source of meat to sell to his tenants. Following the murder of the last worker, unemployed circus clown Louison applies for the vacant position. During his routine maintenance, he befriends Clapet's daughter, Julie, a relationship which slowly blossoms into romance. Louison proves to be a superb worker with a spectacular trick knife and the butcher is reluctant to kill him too quickly. During this time several of the tenants fall under Louison's boyish charms, worrying others who are more anxious for their own safety should they require meat. Aware of her father's motives, Julie descends into the sewers to make contact with the feared Troglodistes, a group of vegetarian rebels, whom she persuades to help rescue Louison. During the apparent butchering of an old woman, the Troglodistes attack but are repelled, and Clapet, with the unsympathetic tenants, storms Louison's room in an attempt to murder him. Louison and Julie resist by flooding themselves, floor to ceiling, in an upper floor bathroom until Clapet opens the door releasing the flood and washing the attackers away. Clapet returns with Louison's knife and inadvertently kills himself. Louison and Julie play music together on the roof of the now peaceful apartment building. 

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The film explores the lives of Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader), a Jewish woman who has assumed a false name and belongs to an underground organization, and Lilly Wust (Juliane Köhler), a married mother of four who is unsatisfied with her philandering Nazi officer husband. The film begins in 1997, with an 83-year-old Lilly (played by Inge Keller) taking up residence in a dilapidated flat that once served as an underground hideout. Brought to a retirement home, Lilly encounters her old maid Ilse (played by Johanna Wokalek in the 1940s scenes and by Kyra Mladeck in 1997 scenes), who was rounded up during 1945, and is already a tenant. In 1943 Felice, assuming a false last name and working as a journalist at a Nazi newspaper, meets Lilly via her friend and sometime lover Ilse, who works as Lilly's housekeeper. Instantly smitten, she takes the initiative in the love affair by sending flagrant letters to Lilly and signing her name as Jaguar, much to Ilse's dismay. One fateful afternoon Felice, Ilse and their friends Klara and Lotte are accosted by German soldiers. All but Lotte manage to escape. After Lotte is shot dead by the soldiers, the friends find no identification on her body except a photograph of her and Felice. Lonely due to the constant absence of her husband, Lilly engages in a series of affairs with other men, but is disillusioned by her callous treatment at the hands of her latest lover, another Nazi officer. She grows closer to Felice, who attempts to kiss her during a New Year's Eve Party in her Berlin apartment after Lilly discovers her philandering husband with Ilse. Lilly rejects Felice but, as her husband tries to make amends the following morning, Lilly realizes she has never loved him and reconciles with Felice. With her husband again away at war, Lilly and Felice begin a shaky but intense relationship. The film features both erotic encounters and sentimental love poems (quoted from the book) and, during one love scene, Felice proclaims Lilly Aimée to her Jaguar. On Lilly's birthday, Felice and her friends throw a party in her apartment that culminates in a lesbian orgy. Lilly is mortified when she sees Ilse and Felice kissing drunkenly, and is further disillusioned when Felice rejects her advances for the night. The next morning, Lilly's husband arrives on special leave for his wife's birthday only to witness the aftermath of the previous night's events. Although enraged, he vows to not punish her for her indiscretion so long that their marriage and life remain intact, but Lilly instead surprises him by asking for a divorce. Afraid that Lilly's husband may turn them in, Felice and her friends stop seeing Lilly for the sake of their own survival. Heartbroken, Lilly holes up in her apartment, eventually sending her children away to safety, and erupts in anger when Felice finally visits her after several weeks. Felice reveals the truth that she is Jewish and feared for her life, and the two make up. After the 20 July Plot, Felice and her friends fear for their lives and arrange to flee Germany before they are rounded up. At the last moment, Felice decides to stay in spite of the danger so that she may remain with Lilly. After a day of frolicking in the countryside, the two return to Lilly's apartment, where Felice is captured by the Gestapo, who have identified her through the photograph of her and Lotte. She is sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, from where she still manages to correspond with Lilly, but all contact is lost by the end of 1944. Lilly and Ilse reminisce about times past as the film ends. Lilly, though saddened by the tragedy that she has caused her friends and lovers, is unable to imagine how her life could have been any different, given her obsessive live-for-today- for-tomorrow-we-die mentality, common among besieged Berliners. Lilly Wust lived in Berlin until her death on 31 March 2006. The tagline of the film is "Love Transcends Death". 

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Belle Williams is a talented driver and auto mechanic who dreams of driving in NASCAR. She celebrates her last shift as a bicycle courier after earning her taxi license and beating the shop's record with a new delivery record of 13 minutes and 54 seconds. Although in a happy relationship, she occasionally neglects her boyfriend Jesse and has bestowed much love on her custom-built 1999 Ford Crown Victoria taxicab over the past five years. She skips her dinner date, to install a supercharger that was given to her as a present for her last day. Her first customer offers her a $100 tip if she can make it to JFK Airport in fifteen minutes. She makes it in 9 minutes and 28 seconds, while almost getting caught speeding on the freeway and through Manhattan. Meanwhile, a group of beautiful women exit the airport, with a man waiting for them. Bumbling undercover detective Andrew "Andy" Washburn blows his cover during a police raid, a gunfight ensues, the criminals escape, and Washburn's partner is wounded. Attempting to follow them Washburn crashes his partner's car. Washburn's cold-hearted and selfish boss Lt. Marta Robbins—who is also his former girlfriend that he retains unrequited feelings for—confiscates his driver's license and demotes him indefinitely to foot patrol duty. Hearing of a bank robbery, Washburn tries to flag down a car in the middle of a street, causing dozens of civilians and their cars to crash into each other, resulting in a major pileup. He flags down a taxicab, which turns out to be Belle's. He commandeers the car which transforms into the street car from earlier. They arrive at the bank just as the four robbers leave in a BMW. Washburn accidentally shoots out one of Belle's windows and they end up cornering the BMW in an alley. The BMW driver cleverly gives Belle the slip, but as the car passes, she recognizes the occupants as the same models from the airport. Their leader is Vanessa. In a misunderstanding, police arrive and hold up Belle and Washburn. Belle's cab is impounded as evidence and she is taken in for questioning as a witness to the robbery; she is upset as it means the loss of two weeks' earnings. Washburn promises to get her cab back if she will join him and help him solve the bank robberies. Belle and Washburn pursue the robbers, getting close once or twice. Washburn takes Belle to his home after Jesse kicks her out for missing out on their dinner date. Washburn's mother is constantly drunk and always has a batch of margaritas going in the blender. She brings up embarrassing moments of Washburn's past and talks about why he's such a bad driver. Later, Washburn talks to the impound cop and eventually convinces him to give him and Belle the cab back. They realize that the gang always robs banks just before the garbage collection is due. The robbers take the money, put it in the trash and the garbage man collects it. Washburn is fired for constantly disobeying orders. Later that night, Belle teaches him to drive with "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" playing on the radio. They discover the garbage collector on the bank route has been performing collections for the gang because they have kidnapped his wife. They trace the kidnapper and recover the garbage collector's wife and all the loot. The police learn which bank is next to be hit, and they wait for the robbers, who take a hostage. After a hostage swap, the gang escapes with Lt. Robbins as hostage, followed by Washburn and Belle in her cab. Belle calls on the help of her former bike messengers to pinpoint the location of the car. Using the cash from the garbage truck, they pinpoint the operation headquarters and negotiate a trade. Belle transforms the cab and during the ensuing chase, they continually try to swap the hostage for the money while driving down the highway. Washburn forces the robbers down a long bridge he knows is under construction. With the robbers trapped on a section of the long bridge, Washburn and Belle laugh victoriously. Enraged and defeated, knowing that her plans have failed, Vanessa fires her gun at them and wounds Belle. While the police arrive at the scene to arrest Vanessa, Washburn drives Belle to the hospital singing "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)". However, Washburn crashes into the hospital so Belle can be quickly taken to be recovered. Sometime later, Belle achieves her dream of driving NASCAR, sponsored by New York banks. Washburn (reinstated back into the NYPD as Detective for foiling the string of robberies), Robbins and Washburn's mother attend her first race to cheer her on. Jesse finally proposes to Belle. As Belle begins to race, a challenger pulls up, revealing himself to be Jeff Gordon. 

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In the city of Hudson, Ohio, Scott "Scotty" Thomas is dumped by his girlfriend, Fiona, immediately after his high school graduation. With his best friend, Cooper Harris, Scotty attends a graduation party that evening, where the band performs a song detailing the affair Fiona was having with the band's singer. Scotty returns home drunk and angry and reads an email from his German pen pal, Mieke—who Scotty calls "Mike"—expressing sympathy for Scotty and suggesting they meet in person. Cooper suggests that "Mike" may be a sexual predator, and Scotty tells Mieke to stay away from him. Scotty's younger brother Bert informs him that "Mieke" is actually a common German feminine name. Realizing that he had mistaken her name, and that he has feelings for Mieke, Scotty tries to contact her again, but finds that Mieke has blocked his email address. Scotty decides to travel to Europe with Cooper to find Mieke and apologize in person. Scotty and Cooper arrive in London, where they befriend a Manchester United football hooligan firm, led by Mad Maynard. After a night of drinking, Scotty and Cooper wake up on a bus on their way to Paris with the hooligans. In Paris, they meet up with their classmates Jenny and Jamie, fraternal twins who are touring Europe together. Jenny and Jamie decide to accompany Scotty and Cooper to find Mieke in Berlin. The group travels to Amsterdam, where Jamie is robbed while receiving oral sex in an alley, losing everyone's money, passports, and train tickets. They attempt to hitchhike to Berlin, but due to a language misunderstanding, they end up in Bratislava. Finding a great exchange rate with the U.S. dollar, the group goes to a nightclub. Drunk on absinthe, Jenny and Jamie make out with each other, witnessed by Scotty and Cooper, and are horrified when they realize what they are doing. The next day, a Slovak man drives them to Berlin, where they learn that Mieke has left with a summer tour group, and will be reachable in Rome for only a short time. Jamie sells his Leica Camera for plane tickets to Rome. In Rome, the group heads to Vatican City, where Mieke is touring before her summer at sea. Inside the Vatican, Scotty and Cooper search for Mieke and accidentally ring the bell that signals the Pope has died. Scotty appears on a balcony and spots Mieke in the cheering crowd below, who have mistaken him for the newly elected pope. The Swiss Guards detains Scotty and Cooper for their actions, but they are rescued by the Manchester United hooligans from London. Scotty finally introduces himself to Mieke and confesses his love. Mieke is happy to see him, and they have sex in a confessional booth before she leaves on her trip. On the flight back to Ohio, Jenny and Cooper give into their urges and have sex in the plane's lavatory, while Jamie stays in Europe after being hired by Arthur Frommer. As the film comes to an end, Scotty moves to Oberlin College in the fall term. During a phone conversation with Cooper, who is now dating Jenny, Mieke knocks on his door, having been assigned to the same room because of another misunderstanding about her name. Scotty and Mieke embrace and get into bed together. 

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When David Lovatt meets Harriet at an office party, they both immediately fall in love. They both share the same conservative outlooks, which they perceive to be a rarity in the London of the 1960s. The two marry and purchase a large house in a small town within commuting distance of London. The couple intends to have several children—a wish frowned upon by the rest of the family. By the time they have four children–two boys and two girls–their house becomes a centre of joy not only for them but for all their relatives and friends who come and visit. This continues until Harriet has a fifth, wildly dysfunctional child, Ben. Her painful pregnancy with him marks the beginning of the misery and suffering that this child brings to the whole family.The information has been checked against the UK 2007 Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition. 

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Owing considerable lineage to Get Smart, the plot was always played for laughs and featured Lancelot Link and his female colleague, "Mata Hairi," whose own name in turn was a play on Mata Hari, in secret agent and spy satires. Link worked for A.P.E., the Agency to Prevent Evil, in an ongoing conflict with the evil organization C.H.U.M.P., the Criminal Headquarters for the Underworld's Master Plan. APE's chief Darwin gave Link and Hairi their orders as part of his "theory," a play on the Charles Darwin (after whom the character had been named) theory of evolution. CHUMP's monocled chief Baron von Butcher inevitably hatched the latest plan to endanger the world. The Baron's network of international fiends included his shifty chauffeur Creto, mad scientist Dr. Strangemind, imperious Dragon Woman, drowsy Wang Fu, singing sheikh Ali Assa Seen, and the cultured Duchess. One or more would appear in each episode. A regular weekly feature was chimp TV host "Ed Simian" introducing a musical number by an all-chimp band, "The Evolution Revolution." An album of these songs was released on the ABC/Dunhill record label. There were also Lancelot Link comic books and other merchandise, including Halloween costumes. Another regular feature consisted of a short series of brief comedy sketches which showed a chimp sneezing causing a funny gag to happen. A curious feature of the apartment set which Lancelot Link and Mata Hairi used as their base was that the sofa had a secret entrance/exit which was opened by simply lifting one of the cushions. The episodes were all narrated, in a mock-sober delivery, by Malachi Throne. 

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Drifter Harry Madox takes a job as a used car salesman in a small Texas town. In the summer heat, he develops an interest in Gloria Harper, who works at the car dealership. Dolly Hershaw, who is married to the dealership's owner, flirts with Harry and they begin a torrid affair. Harry learns that the bank staff are all volunteer firemen so he sets a fire to lure them away from the bank. While they are gone, Harry robs the bank, but then has to enter the burning building to save a man who is trapped inside. The town's sheriff suspects Harry, but Dolly gives him an alibi and tells him she will sell him out unless he kills her husband. When he refuses, Dolly threatens to expose him. She ultimately kills her husband herself by overstimulating his weak heart during sex. Meanwhile, Gloria is being blackmailed by Frank Sutton, who has nude photographs of Irene Davey with Gloria, after hearing about Irene with another woman, her former teacher. Harry, who has fallen in love with Gloria, confronts Sutton to get the pictures, and kills him in the ensuing struggle. Harry plants evidence to divert suspicion away from himself for Sutton's murder, then tells the police that Sutton, who had no job and few assets, had recently paid cash for a new car, making it seem that Sutton had robbed the bank. Harry receives a hefty reward for providing the tip that helps the police "solve" the robbery. He plans to marry Gloria and take her to the Caribbean Islands. Dolly ruins Harry's plans by showing him a copy of a letter (to be opened in the event of her death) implicating him in the robbery and in Sutton's death, and telling Gloria about the affair. A heartbroken Gloria leaves Harry. Enraged, Harry tries to strangle Dolly, but cannot bring himself to kill her. Harry resigns himself to life with Dolly, and leaves town with her. 

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In 1977, Eddie Adams is a high-school dropout living with his stepfather and emotionally abusive mother in Torrance, California. He works at the Reseda nightclub owned by Maurice Rodriguez, where he meets porn filmmaker Jack Horner. Jack auditions him by watching him have sex with Rollergirl, a porn starlet who always wears skates. After arguing with his mother about his girlfriend and sex life, Adams moves in with Horner at his San Fernando Valley home. Adams gives himself the screen name "Dirk Diggler" and becomes a star because of his good looks, youthful charisma, and unusually large penis. His success allows him to buy a new house, an extensive wardrobe, and a "competition orange" 1977 Chevrolet Corvette. With friend and fellow porn star Reed Rothchild, Dirk pitches a series of successful action-themed porn films. Dirk works and socializes with others from the porn industry, and they live carefree lifestyles in the late 1970s disco era. That changes at a New Year's Eve party at Horner's house marking the year 1980 when assistant director Little Bill Thompson discovers his wife having sex with another man. Bill, tired of being repeatedly cuckolded by his wife, shoots them both dead, and kills himself. Dirk also does cocaine for the first time at the party, foreshadowing his eventual downward spiral. Dirk and Reed begin using cocaine on a regular basis. Due to Dirk's drug use, he finds it increasingly difficult to achieve an erection, falls into violent mood swings, and becomes upset with Johnny Doe, a new leading man Jack has recruited. In 1983, after arguing with Jack, Dirk is fired and takes off with Reed to start a music career along with Scotty, a boom operator who is in love with Dirk. Jack rejects business overtures from Floyd Gondolli, a theater magnate in San Diego and San Francisco, who insists on cutting costs by shooting on videotape because Jack believes that video will diminish the quality of his films. After his friend and financier, Colonel James, is imprisoned for possession of child pornography, Jack works with Gondolli, becoming disillusioned with the projects he expects him to churn out. One of these projects involves Jack and Rollergirl riding in a limousine, searching for random men for her to have sex with while being taped by a crew. When one man recognizes Rollergirl as a former high-school classmate, he insults her and Jack, who attacks the man, leaving him injured on the sidewalk as the crew drives off. Leading lady Amber Waves finds herself in a custody battle with her ex-husband. The court determines that she is an unfit mother due to her involvement in the porn industry, prior criminal record, and cocaine addiction. Buck Swope marries fellow porn star Jessie St. Vincent, who becomes pregnant. Because of his past, Buck is disqualified from a bank loan and cannot open his own stereo- equipment store. That night, he finds himself in the middle of a holdup at a donut shop in which the clerk, the robber, and an armed customer are killed. Buck escapes with the money that the robber demanded. Having wasted their money on drugs, Dirk and Reed cannot pay a recording studio for demo tapes they believe will enable them to become music stars. Desperate for money, Dirk resorts to prostitution but is assaulted and robbed by three men. Dirk, Reed, and their friend Todd Parker attempt to scam local drug dealer Rahad Jackson, by selling him a half-kilo of baking soda as cocaine. Dirk and Reed decide to leave before Rahad's bodyguard inspects it, but Todd attempts to steal additional drugs and money from Rahad. In the ensuing gunfight, Todd shoots Rahad's bodyguard and Todd is killed by Rahad. Dirk and Reed escape and Dirk reconciles with Jack. In 1984, Buck and Jessie give birth to their son, Amber shoots the television commercial for Buck's store opening, Reed performs a magic act at a strip club, Colonel James remains in prison, Maurice opens a night club and Rollergirl takes a GED class. Dirk and Amber prepare to start filming again. 

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Loosely based on true events (see Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu), the film concerns René Gallimard (Jeremy Irons), a French diplomat assigned to Beijing, China, in the 1960s. He becomes infatuated with a Peking opera performer, Song Liling (John Lone), who spies on him for the Government of the People's Republic of China. Their affair lasts for 20 years, with Gallimard all the while apparently unaware (or willfully ignorant) of the fact that in Peking opera, Dan roles are traditionally performed by men. 

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Shivashankar, a wheelchair- using multi-millionaire, sends his spoilt son Vishnu to Thottapuram to help the poor. Vishnu does not want to go, but a local pizza restaurateur convinces Vishnu and his friends that the village is one big brothel. Thottapuram is actually a sacred village and the restaurateur had purposefully deceived Vishnu and his friends. Also visiting the village are Divya and her college classmates. They come for their social activity course to improve the village's health and hygiene. A large building is reserved for him and the girls are asked to stay in the poor families' houses. Vishnu and his friends arrive and start to woo the girls, whom they mistake for Thottapuram's prostitutes. When Divya discovers their plan, she and her friends decide to teach Vishnu and his friends a lesson. Vishnu and his friends are wooed by Divya and the other girls. They are led to separate rooms where the girls inject a serum that makes them itch all over. They leave, screaming and scratching. Vishnu tells Divya to leave her profession and offers to save her honour by marrying her in the village temple the next day. Divya does not come, but Vishnu and his friends happen to see her leaving on a bus bearing the name of the girls' college, revealing that they have been duped. But, Divya got guilt ridden when she watches him carrying mangala sutra and really got ready to marry her. Depressed and feeling cheated, Vishnu returns home, Shivshankar discovers that his son has fallen in love. With his influence, Vishnu and Divya get engaged. Everything goes well until one night, Vishnu goes to Divya's house in a drunken state. Her family prevent him from talking to her. This eventually leads to a fight. Vishnu then goes to Divya's cousin's house to meet Divya and apologise for his behaviour, but suddenly attempts to rape Divya's cousin which Divya got horrified when noticing. Then on the same day at night, Vishnu tries to kill Shivashankar, but is stopped by Ko Thandam, Sivashankar's P.A., who got stabbed by Vishnu. Disappointed with Vishnu's behaviour, Shivashankar sends Vishnu to a psychiatrist . It is then revealed that Jeeva, Vishnu's twin, had assumed Vishnu's identity, took money from the bank, got drunk and went to Divya's place and attempted to rape Divya's cousin. Jeeva hates Shivashankar for abandoning him and his mentally- challenged mother Gayathri. Later, Divya manages to sneak into Vishnu's room in the hospital and believes his explanation that he is innocent. She leaves and shortly afterwards, Jeeva appears, smuggles and dumps Vishnu out of the hospital, takes over his identity and goes to kill Shivashankar. The father notices that it is not his son and gets out of his wheelchair to defend himself, much to Jeeva's surprise. Vishnu arrives at the scene, surprised that his father is able to walk and demands an explanation. Shivashankar tells him that he was a Bharatanatyam dancer who behaved effeminately due to dancing. His mother had arranged for Shivashankar to marry her friend's daughter Gayathri (Jeeva's mother). He agreed but the girl rejected Shivashankar for being too effeminate and insulted him in front of the wedding crowd. Unable to bear the embarrassment, Shivashankar's mother died on the spot. Enraged, Shivashankar raped and impregnated Gayathri. The doctor refused to give her an abortion, leading to Vishnu's birth. Shivashankar took his child from her mother saying the child would be the only hope of his life. But, unknown to Sivashankar, right after he left Gayathri gave birth to another son, whom we later get to know as Jeeva(Vishnu's Twin). Jeeva escapes and threatens Vishnu and Divya's wedding. Shivashankar attempts to stop him when Jeeva's grandmother arrives and explains that Jeeva is also Shivashankar's son and Vishnu's twin, and that Jeeva's mother went insane when Jeeva was about to get hit by a lorry. Jeeva realises his mistake. He wants Shivashankar to shoot him, but a police officer mistakenly thinks that Jeeva is pointing a gun at Shivashankar. He fires at Jeeva, but Shivashankar intervenes and is shot dead instead. Jeeva accepts Shivashankar's apology and is then arrested and jailed for a long term. Weeks later, Jeeva's mother does not accept food from anyone, until Vishnu comes dressed up as Jeeva and feeds her. The film ends with Vishnu telling her that Shivashankar is the godfather of the family. 

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A belief is spreading in conquered China that the government has lost the Mandate of Heaven. Han Tzu meets up with Mazer Rackham, who passes him a blow dart pen, calling it the "Mandate of Heaven". Han Tzu confronts the emperor, Snow Tiger, who is shot and killed by a guard, allowing Han Tzu to overthrow the Chinese government and install himself as the new emperor. Meanwhile, Peter Wiggin, Hegemon of Earth, along with Petra Arkanian, goes to visit Alai, Caliph of the Muslim League. The two help Alai realize that he is little more than a glorified prisoner, and that others have been ruling Islam in his stead. After uncovering a conspiracy against him, Alai resolves to take firmer control of his nation and guarantee the human rights of his subjugated peoples. The rest of the book deals with Peter Wiggin working to create a world government free of war through his Free People of Earth (FPE) alliance. Caliph Alai of the Muslim League and Virlomi, now the virtual goddess of India, oppose his efforts. Against this backdrop of world political machinations by the former Battle School children is the extremely personal story of Julian (Bean) Delphiki. Anton's Key is making him grow at an astounding rate and he has only a short time before his body will become too large for his heart to support. He searches frantically for his and Petra's missing children. Graff assists them in locating the surrogate mothers of their children. While Bean and Petra wait for news, Graff extends invitations to the other members of Ender's Jeesh to leave Earth and rule colonies, where they can conquer to their heart's content without causing needless wars between themselves, and instructs Bean to support Peter in forming the FPE. The FPE alliance begins with only twenty-two countries, among them Brazil, Rwanda, and the Netherlands. The first test of the FPE comes when they recognize the sovereignty and nationhood of the Nubian, Quechua, and Aymara peoples, ethnic minorities that are politically part of other nations. Peru and Sudan send troops against these "rebel" strongholds, but Peter defends them using Bean and Suriyawong, leading Rwandan and Thai troops, to show that war against one FPE member is war against all of them. The FPE's victories, and especially their militarily brilliant commanders, bolster support for the FPE, and nations begin to freely vote on whether to join it. Meanwhile, Bean suspects that Peter is embezzling Ender's military pension to fund the FPE, so he requests that Ender's funds be placed under the control of an autonomous computer. Colonel Graff has the Mind Game reprogrammed to accurately predict financial markets and turns it loose over the ansible network, where it continues to invest Ender's pension and, as revealed later in the Enderverse chronology, eventually evolves into the artificial intelligence known as Jane. The Mind Game also speeds the search for Bean's missing children, allowing the International Fleet to find eight of them; two of whom have Anton's Key turned, as does the baby Petra is carrying. The ninth remains undetected, as Achilles had it implanted into a woman named Randi, brainwashed to think that it is the baby of Achilles, whom she worships as a hero assassinated by foul enemies. To avoid persecution, Randi determines to leave Earth and live in a colony, where she can raise her child (who appears to have Anton's Key turned, as the baby is born prematurely) to follow in Achilles' footsteps. Her story, and that of her child Randall Firth, is concluded in Card's later novel Ender in Exile. Virlomi attempts to guarantee India's freedom via dynastic marriage, turning down an offer from Han Tzu to instead attempt to seduce Peter Wiggin. When Peter turns her down, she turns to Alai whom she finds easier to outmaneuver. Their new marriage is fraught with tension and Alai discovers that, despite his wife's status as an infidel and a woman, the more hotheaded members of his empire actually prefer her aggressive and expansionist policies. Virlomi then declares war on China, setting off all manner of plots: Muslim hardliners attempt to assassinate Alai; Russia invades China and eastern Europe using "contingency" plans drawn up by a horrified Vlad; and Fly Molo of the Philippines is instructed to invade Taiwan, his nation suicidally confident in their Jeesh member. In this way, all the Battle School grads are convinced to take up Graff's offer to travel the stars, realizing that their presence on Earth guarantees continued and wasteful war. Even Virlomi agrees, after Suri manages to snap her out of her growing megalomania. With the secret help of Mazer Rackham, Bean divorces Petra for her own sake, takes the three found children with Anton's Key, and flies away on a starship provided by the Fleet to achieve relativistic speeds and thereby stay alive long enough for medical researchers to find a cure. Bean's departure breaks Petra's heart, but she becomes Peter's military commander, eventually marrying and having five children with him, though she never stops loving Bean. By the end of the novel, all of the world's nations, except the United States, have joined the FPE. Peter reconciles with Ender via ansible, giving the "Speaker for the Dead" all he needs to write The Hegemon, a deeply felt and truthful biography of his brother. Petra reads his biography at his grave, thinking of him as the man who truly changed her life. Still, Bean remains the one who she loves and has changed her life the most. 

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A boy known as Musashi, reincarnated from the legendary Brave Fencer Musashi who saved the Allucaneet Kingdom from a monster called the Wizard of Darkness 150 years before, is summoned to Allucaneet by its ruler Princess Fillet to save it from the invading Thirstquencher Empire. Musashi is given the blade Fusion, and is charged with the task of obtaining Brave Fencer Musashi's sword Lumina, the Sword of Luminescence before the Thirstquencher Army does. Although Musashi has no intention of saving the kingdom, he agrees to do so in order to return to his homeland. After Musashi recovers Lumina, he finds that most of the people from the Allucaneet kingdom, including Fillet, have been kidnapped by the Thirstquencher Empire. In order to rescue all the residents from Allucaneet and defeat the Empire, Musashi starts searching for the Five Scrolls; each one holding an elemental power able to greatly augment the sword Lumina's powers. With help from the treasure hunter Jon, Musashi finds the Earth Scroll and defeats its crest guardian. After its defeat, half-vampire and half-zombie creatures known as Vambees appear in the nearby village. While searching for a way to stop the Vambees, Musashi finds the Water Scroll and defeats its crest guardian in the basement where the Vambees originate. While Musashi searches for the Fire Scroll, Musashi's rival, Kojiro, kidnaps Princess Fillet and uses her as a hostage to force a battle with Musashi. Kojiro is defeated and Fillet is then rescued. Musashi then searches for thieves from the Thirstquencher Empire and makes his way to the next crest guardian. It is then revealed that Princess Fillet is actually one of Thirstquencher's thieves disguised and that the real Fillet, which is still in their hands. Musashi then continues his journey, finds the Wind Scroll, and defeats its crest guardian in an ants' nest. After finding the fifth and final Scroll, the Sky Scroll, Musashi discovers Thirstquencher's base, a floating ship known as the Soda Fountain. Musashi attacks the base and defeats the Sky Guardian. Thirstquencher's leader, Flatski, forces Musashi to give him Lumina in exchange for the Princess, and frees the Sky Crest. However, this unleashes the Wizard of Darkness, who was sealed within Brave Fencer Musashi's sword Lumina the entire time. It is also revealed by Jon that the original Brave Fencer Musashi sealed The Dark Wizard within the sword. Furthermore, it was Brave Fencer Musashi who entrusted the crests to the crest guardians to prevent The Dark Wizard's seal within Lumina from being broken. In effect, the present Musashi's quest merely aided The Dark Wizard's revival. Musashi recovers Lumina and uses it to defeat The Dark Wizard. After returning the Princess to Allucaneet Kingdom, Musashi takes Lumina to the place where he found it. 

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For generations, a secret war has raged between vampires and Lycans, an ancient species of werewolf. After years of fighting between the two enemy races, the vampires have seemingly gained the upper hand following the death of the Lycan leader Lucian at the hands of a vampire named Kraven, who subsequently became the second-in-command to the vampires' triumvirate of leading elders. Selene, a member of an elite group of vampire assassins known as "Death Dealers", longs for revenge against the Lycans, who murdered her parents when she was a child. During a clash with the Lycans, Selene discovers that they're looking for a seemingly ordinary medical student named Michael Corvin. After she rescues Michael and takes him under her wing, the pair find themselves pursued by a group of Lycans led by Lucian, who is still alive after all. They escape, but Michael is bitten by Lucian. Since Kraven was the only witness to Lucian's supposed death, Selene comes to suspect that he lied about killing him, and may be working with the Lycans. Now hesitant to trust Kraven, Selene returns to her coven's mansion and prematurely awakens a hibernating elder vampire named Viktor, who is waiting for his turn to resume his place as the coven's leader. Angry at being awakened early, Viktor refuses to believe Selene's warnings about Kraven's treachery, and reminds her that his fellow elder Marcus was supposed to be awakened before him. While Selene awaits Kraven's judgment for defying him, she binds Michael, fearing that the Lycans' bite will transform him into a werewolf when the full moon rises. As the two of them bond, she gradually tells him more about her past, revealing that Viktor adopted her and turned her into a vampire after her parents' death. Soon after, Selene manages to capture and abduct the Lycan scientist Singe, while the Lycans manage to abduct and capture Michael. While held captive in the Lycans' lair, Michael soon learns that Lucian was once in love with Viktor's daughter Sonja, and that Viktor murdered her after he discovered their forbidden love affair. Kraven claims that Lycans were once slaves of vampires, and the war began when they rose up against them and fought for their freedom. While being interrogated by Viktor back at the vampires' mansion, a captive Singe reveals that Selene was telling the truth about Kraven's betrayal, and he reveals why the Lycans want Michael: vampires and Lycans actually have a common ancestor, and Michael is a direct descendant of that ancestor. As an heir to the legendary "Corvinus" bloodline, he carries a unique genetic strain that could allow him to become a vampire-werewolf hybrid. In the climax, the vampire elder Amelia—the ruler of the coven—is ambushed and killed by Lycans while traveling to the coven's mansion to awaken Marcus. In the ensuing showdown between the vampires and the Lycans, Selene breaks into the Lycans' lair to rescue Michael, Kraven and Lucian turn on each other, Kraven tells Selene that Viktor was the one who really murdered her parents, and Michael allows Selene to bite him - believing that her bite will make him an immortal vampire- werewolf hybrid - while Kraven shoots Lucian, killing him. When Viktor arrives at the Lycans' lair in the aftermath of the battle, he admits to murdering Selene's parents and killing his daughter, but staunchly defends his actions; he insists that he killed Sonja for the good of his people, and claims that he made Selene immortal out of love for her. Viktor tries to kill Michael, but Selene turns against him and kills him with the aid of Michael, who becomes a hybrid. Now enemies of both the vampires and the Lycans, Selene and Michael flee the Lycans' lair together. Back at the vampires' mansion, Marcus—now the sole surviving vampire elder—awakens after Singe's blood seeps into his sarcophagus. 

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The three films comprise a "coming of age" narrative in the vein of a bildungsroman; they describe the childhood, education and early maturity of a young Bengali named Apu (Apurba Kumar Roy) in the early part of the 20th century. Pather Panchali (Bengali, "Song of the Little Road") Apu's early experiences in rural Bengal as the son of a poor but high caste family are presented. Apu's father Harihar, a Brahmin, has difficulty in supporting his family. After the death of Apu's sister, Durga, the family moves to the holy city of Benares. Aparajito (Bengali, "The Unvanquished") The family's finances are still precarious. After his father dies there, Apu and his mother Sarbajaya come back to a village in Bengal. Despite unrelenting poverty, Apu manages to get formal schooling and turns out to be a brilliant student. He moves to Calcutta to pursue his education. He slowly distanced himself from his rural roots and his mother who was not keeping well at the time. In the process the growing Apu comes into conflict with his mother. Later he is informed that, when his mother dies too, he has to learn to live alone. Apur Sansar (Bengali, "The World of Apu") Attempting to become a writer, Apu unexpectedly finds himself pressured to marry a girl whose mother rejected her mentally ill bridegroom on the day of their wedding. Their blossoming marriage ends in her death in childbirth, after which the despairing Apu abandons his child, but eventually returns to accept his responsibilities. 

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;Act I In 1929, the elderly and widowed, but still lively, Marchioness of Shayne is holding a party at her home in London to celebrate the impending society marriage of a young woman who, it turns out, is in love not with her fiancé but with another man, a poor musician ("That Wonderful Melody"). The young woman is torn between love and fortune, and Lady Shane is reminded of her own youth ("The Call of Life"). Nearly 55 years earlier, in 1875, Lady Shayne is the young Sarah Millick, a wealthy London girl, who is having a singing lesson with her dashing music teacher, Carl Linden. The spirited Sarah is engaged to Lord Hugh, a wealthy but rigid young nobleman, but she and her music teacher have fallen in love ("If You Could Only Come With Me"). Carl is a man of integrity and does not want to ruin Sarah's young dreams. He plans to return to his native Austria late that night but vows to think of Sarah each Spring ("I'll See You Again"). At the pre-wedding party, Sarah realises that her life with Lord Hugh would be very unhappy indeed ("What Is Love"). Carl is entertaining at the party ("The Last Dance"), and when she sees the depth of his love for her, she agrees to run away with him to Vienna. ;Act II Five years later, in Vienna, Carl is a bandleader, and Sarah (now called Sari), sings his songs, but she is unhappy with their new employment at Schlick's Café, a racy establishment where she is expected to dance with the patrons, and perhaps more ("Ladies of the Town"). Carl's earlier love, Manon, is another entertainer at the cafe, who has mixed feelings about Sarah ("If Love Were All"). Sarah begs Carl to quit the cafe and take them to a safer place ("Evermore and a Day"; "Dear Little Café"). He agrees, but that night is busy at the cafe ("Tokay"). Manon sings "Bonne Nuit, Merci". Sarah is asked to dance with an army captain who handles her boldly and steals a kiss on the dance floor ("Kiss Me"). Carl is enraged and strikes the military man. The captain challenges Carl to a duel and easily kills the musician with his sword. ;Act III Thirteen years pass, and it is the Gay Nineties ("Ta Ra Ra Boom"; "Green Carnation"). Sarah has become world-famous as an interpreter of Carl's song ("Alas! The Time is Past"). She returns to London, pursued by the amiable Marquis of Shayne, who is struck by her talent and sadness; he is sure that he can restore her youthful spirit. She sees her old London friends after nearly 20 years and entertains them with Carl's music ("Zigeuner"). Lord Shayne has proposed to her in every capital in Europe and now, home in London, he tells her that he accepts the fact that her love for Carl has never died. He begs her to let him make her happy again. She reluctantly accepts his proposal; she sings to Carl, "I shall love you till I die – good bye" ("I'll See You Again" (reprise)). 

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The plot follows the story of Bird, a 27 year old Japanese man. The book starts with him wondering about a hypothetical trip to Africa, which is a recurrent theme in his mind throughout the story. Soon after day-dreaming about his trip and a brawl with a few local delinquents from the region, Bird receives a call from the doctor of the hospital regarding his newborn child, urging him to talk in person. After meeting with the doctor, he discovers that his son has been born with a brain hernia, although the fact is still obscure to his wife. Bird is troubled by the revelation, and regrets having to inform the relatives of his wife about the facts concerning the state of the child, who is not expected to survive for long. Not long after, Bird meets an ex-girlfriend of his, called Himiko, who has, after her husband's suicide, become a sexual deviant and eccentric. After a short philosophical discussion, both become drunk and Bird sleeps at Himiko's, only to wake up on the morning after in a deep state of hangover from all the whisky he had drunk the day before. He vomits violently. After refreshing up and readying himself for work, Bird goes to his teaching job at Cram school to teach English Literature. Whilst teaching, Bird suddenly becomes wildly nauseated and vomits in his classroom. The classmates disapprove of Bird's behaviour, claiming that he's a drunk and should be fired from his job. Bird worries that he might lose his job. After the ordeal, he returns to the hospital, sure that his child should have died by now. When he asks the nurse concerning the baby, he is surprised to know that his child is still alive, and if survived after a few days, is expected to go through Brain Surgery, even though the prospects of him turning into a healthy normal child is non-existent. Bird struggles with this fact, and desires the child to die as soon as possible so as to not have the responsibility for the so-called "monster baby" to ruin his life and his prospects for travelling by himself to the African Continent. The internal psychological struggle that he has to go through makes him feel fear, anger and shame, towards the baby and himself. A little while after, Bird goes to Himiko's house and begins to make love to her. However, haunted by the ordeal of his dying child, Bird is unable to achieve an erection at the mention of the word "pregnancy" and "womb" uttered by Himiko, and ends up resorting to the practice of BDSM. He feels reluctant at first, but then concedes and is able to achieve orgasm with Himiko. When he goes back to the hospital, Bird has to lie to his wife concerning the state of the baby and its cranial condition, claiming that it is an unknown organ failure that is causing the baby to suffer. He does not admit that he expects the baby's death. Back at his cram school job, he meets one of his friendly students who wishes to claim that the vomit incident the earlier day was caused by food poisoning, and not hangover, in order for Bird have better chances of not being fired. Bird appreciates this offer, but decides to go clean to his superiors regarding the incident. After the meeting with his supervisor, he is let go of his job. Bird realizes that now he has no prospects for ever travelling to the African Continent, and worries about his Hospital Bills and financial situation. Bird tries to escape his responsibility for the child and his crumbling relationship with his wife, turning to alcohol and Himiko. Eventually, he is fired from his job teaching at a cram school in the process. He half attempts to kill the child, albeit indirectly, and is forced to decide whether he wants to keep the child. 

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Scarlet Diva is a semi- autobiographical film about the Italian actress and director Asia Argento's life as an actress. A self-destructive streak in Anna Battista (Argento) pulls her into drugs, sex and other excesses. To combat this descent, she attempts to fulfill her creative side by becoming a film director. Battista's attempts to realize her talent are thwarted by her desires and the uncaring responses of those around her. As part of her plans to become a director and bring her story to the screen, Battista travels to Los Angeles but only meets a shady film producer (Joe Coleman). She falls in love with an uncaring Australian rock and roll star (Jean Sheperd), then finds out she is pregnant by him. But her life is still in disarray as she uses drugs to help herself feel better. 

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Brad Hamilton is a popular senior at Ridgemont High School and looks forward to his final year of school. He has a job at All-American Burger, almost has his 1960 Buick LeSabre paid off, and plans to break up with his girlfriend Lisa so he can be completely eligible during the year. Brad, however, is fired for threatening an obnoxious customer. While he tries to tell Lisa how much he needs her, she informs Brad that she wants to break up with him to date other guys. Brad gets a job at Captain Hook Fish & Chips, but quits in humiliation when a beautiful older woman laughs at his wearing a pirate costume while making a food delivery. Brad's sister Stacy is a 15-year- old sophomore and a virgin. She works at a pizza parlor at Ridgemont Mall alongside her outspoken friend, Linda Barrett. One night at work, Stacy takes an order from Ron Johnson, a 26-year-old stereo salesman, who asks her out after she tells him she's 19. She later sneaks out of her house to meet him and she loses her virginity to him in a dugout at a baseball field. She tells Linda about the date, stating how much it hurt. Linda offers advice to Stacy on the matter, which she often does as the more worldly and experienced of the two. Ron sends her flowers the next day, but stops calling after November. Mike Damone is a smooth-talking know-it-all who earns money taking sports bets and scalping concert tickets and fancies himself as a sagacious and worldly ladies' man. His shy but amiable best friend, Mark Ratner, works as an usher at the movie theater across from the pizza parlor at the mall. When Mark proclaims his love for Stacy to him, Damone lets Mark in on his five secrets for picking up girls. Damone later persuades Mark to ask Stacy out on a date to a German restaurant. Afterwards, at her home, Stacy invites Mark into her bedroom, where they look at her photo album together. They begin to kiss, but Mark abruptly leaves after Stacy attempts to seduce him. She mistakenly interprets his shyness as lack of interest. Stacy tells Linda that she doesn't believe Mark is interested yet she likes him. She is advised to find someone else to like fast. After he shows her a small act of kindness, Stacy grows interested in Damone. Eventually she invites him to go swimming in her pool, which leads to them having sex in the pool house during which he ejaculates very quickly. Brad, who has become sullen and withdrawn since his breakup, is caught by Linda masturbating in the bathroom after he daydreams about her after seeing her in a bikini. Stacy later informs Damone that she is pregnant, and he tells her she wanted sex more than he did, which she denies. She asks for him to pay half the money for an abortion and give her a ride to the clinic, to which he agrees. However, unable to come up with his half despite attempts to call in debts owed from his business dealings, he bails on her the day of the appointment. She asks Brad to drive her to a bowling alley to meet friends, but he sees her cross the street to the abortion clinic. Brad waits for Stacy and he confronts her about the abortion. Stacy makes Brad promise not to tell their parents, but doesn't divulge who got her pregnant. When Stacy tells Linda that Damone bailed on her and didn't pay his half, Linda becomes furious. The next day, Damone finds both his car and locker vandalized as revenge. Mark confronts Damone about his involvement with Stacy. They almost get into a fight, but their gym teacher breaks it up. Jeff Spicoli is a carefree stoner and surfer who runs afoul of strict history teacher Mr. Hand, who is intolerant of Spicoli's disregard of his classroom rules. One night during a joyride with his friend, Spicoli wrecks the 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 of Ridgemont star football player Charles Jefferson. Spicoli covers up the damage by making it look like the car was trashed by fans of Ridgemont's sports rival, Lincoln High. When Ridgemont plays Lincoln, Jefferson (furious about his car) thrashes several of Lincoln's players and almost single- handedly wins the game. On the evening of the graduation dance, Mr. Hand shows up at Spicoli's house and informs him that since he has wasted eight hours of class time over the past year, Mr. Hand intends to make up for it that night. They have a one-on-one history session that lasts until Mr. Hand is satisfied that Spicoli has understood the lesson. In the end, Mark and Stacy start dating, and Mark and Damone make peace. Brad takes a job at a convenience store and is promoted to manager after foiling a robbery with the unintended help of Spicoli. 

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Evidence is found of an intelligent alien species who visited the Earth long ago and left an encyclopedia with the collected knowledge of their culture. The story is told from the point of view of a human historian on a star ship on the way to Alpha Centauri (the aliens' home star) who is using the time in transit to translate two alien books and to write a history of how humans gained access to the aliens' knowledge. 9000 years ago the alien society in the Alpha Centauri system was under threat of cosmic bombardment. Their only hope to survive was to explore and colonize nearby space. On 21st century Earth, astronauts find artifacts left by this civilization and wonder who they were. The narrator is a historian who is part of a mission to the Alpha Centauri system, the home system of the aliens. As all crew members were required to bring several projects to work on, due to the decades long nature of the mission, she spends her time writing biographies of several family members who were closely involved in the acquisition of a repository of the aliens' knowledge. As another project, she translates two autobiographies by the aliens who had visited the Solar System over 9000 years earlier. 

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Aurochs is an attempt by Trumbo to tell the tale of World War II through the eyes of a Nazi by the name of Grieban, commandant of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. The book is compiled and edited by Robert Kirsch. The story starts out narrated in the first person through a series of letters written by Grieban, but later is written in the third person. 

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Biron Farrill, about to complete studies at the University of Earth, is told by Sander Jonti that his father, a rich planetary leader who is known as Lord Rancher of Widemos, has been arrested and killed by the Tyranni and that his own life may be in danger. On Jonti's advice, he travels to Rhodia, the strongest of the conquered planets. There, from the Director of Rhodia's brother Gillbret, he hears rumours of a world on which rebellion against the Tyranni is secretly being plotted. Escaping with Artemisia oth Hinriad, the daughter of the Director of Rhodia and her uncle Gillbret in a Tyranni spaceship, they travel to the planet Lingane. It is not part of the Tyranni conquests but maintains "peaceful" relations with them. There, they meet the Autarch of Lingane, who is revealed to be Sander Jonti, the man who sent Farrill to Rhodia from Earth, who seems to possess knowledge of a rebellion world. With him and his followers, the group travel to the heart of the Horsehead Nebula and believe that for any rebellion world to exist and not be known to the Tyranni, it must be located in a place like the Horsehead Nebula. The Tyranni spaceship that was stolen by Farrill is being tracked by a fleet of Tyranni vessels led by Simok Aratap, the Tyrannian Commissioner. With him is the Director, who is shown to be nervous about the well-being of his daughter and his brother. They keep themselves at a distance for fear of Farrill discovering them until Farrill lands on one planet in the heart of the nebula. The Autarch believes that the planet is the rebellion world. However, there is no sign of life anywhere. When the Autarch and Farrill leave the spaceship, apparently to set up a radio transmitter, Farrill faces the Autarch and accuses him of getting his father killed at the hands of the Tyranni. The Autarch affirms the accusation, and Farrill adds that the Autarch feared his father's growing reputation and so caused Farrill's father's death. In a fight, Farrill subdues the Autarch with help from the Autarch's aide, Tedor Rizzet, who reveals that he is ashamed of the Autarch for killing a great man like Farrill's father. Later, as Farrill and Rizzet try to explain everything to the rest of the crew they picked up from Lingane, the Tyranni fleet arrives and takes them prisoner. Aratap interrogates Farrill, Artemisia, Gillbret, and Rizzet to ascertain the co-ordinates of the rebellion world, but they do not know where it is. However, the Autarch reveals the information to Aratap. Rizzet kills the Autarch with a blaster in anger. While Aratap interrogates Farrill, Gillbret manages to escape to the engine room of the spaceship and short the hyperatomics. Farrill, realizing the danger, manages to contact Aratap. The engines are repaired, but Gillbret is injured and later dies. The space jump is made with the co-ordinates given to them by the late Autarch. However, they find a planetless system with only a white-dwarf star. Aratap lets Farrill and the others go, believing that there is no rebellion world. Aratap makes it clear that he will never be chosen as Director. Biron and Artemisia are allowed to marry. It is eventually revealed that there is indeed a rebellion in the making, on Rhodia itself, with the Director as its leader; he deliberately took on the persona of a nervous and timid old man to throw off suspicion from himself and his planet. It is further revealed that the Director, who possesses a collection of ancient documents, has searched for and has found a document that will help a future empire, likely Trantor, govern the galaxy. The document is eventually revealed to be the United States Constitution. 

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In 1877 Colorado Territory, a young woman, Cresta Lee, and young U.S. Private Honus Gant are joined together by fate when they are the only two survivors after their group is massacred by the Cheyenne. Gant is devoted to his country and duty; Lee, who has lived with the Cheyenne for two years, is scornful of Gant (she refers to him as "Soldier Blue" derisively) and declares that in this conflict she sympathizes with them. The two must now try to make it to Fort Reunion, the army camp, where Cresta's fiancé, an army officer, waits for her. As they travel through the desert with very low supplies, hiding from the Indians, they are spotted by a group of Kiowa horsemen. Under pressure from Cresta, Honus fights and seriously wounds the group's chief. Honus finds himself unable to kill the disgraced Kiowa leader, whose own men stab him leaving Honus and Cresta alone. The ideological gulf between them is also revealed in their attitudes towards societal mores, with the almost-puritanical Honus disturbed by things Cresta barely notices. The duo are pursued by a corrupt trader who sells guns to the Cheyenne, but whose latest shipment of weapons Honus has managed to destroy. An injured Honus finds himself in a cave where Cresta has left him to get help. She arrives at Fort Reunion, only to discover that her fiancé's cavalry unit plans to attack the peaceful Indian village of the Cheyenne the following day. She rides to the village in time to warn Spotted Wolf, the Cheyenne chief. The chief does not recognize the danger and, under a U.S. flag, rides out to extend a hand of friendship to the American soldiers. The soldiers, however, obey the orders of their psychopathic commanding officer and open artillery fire on the village. After a cavalry charge decimates the Indian men, the soldiers enter the village and begin to rape and kill the Cheyenne women. Honus attempts to halt the atrocities, to no avail. Cresta attempts to lead the remaining women and children to safety, but her group is discovered and massacred, though Cresta herself survives. Honus is dragged away chained behind an army wagon while a despairing Cresta is left with the few Cheyenne survivors. 

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In a small Southern town, Jim Price is elected sheriff over John Little, the incumbent. Racial tensions exist in the community, and Price gets little assistance from Little, leaving office, or from Mayor Parks, who insists he be consulted on any decision the new sheriff makes. A white man, John Braddock, is arrested on a manslaughter charge after his drunken driving causes the death of a young girl. Braddock's father carries considerable influence and demands his son be freed. Price's deputy, Bradford Wilkes, is beaten by Little's former deputy, Bengy Springer. Another arrest is made, this time of a black man, George Harley, accused of rape. The townspeople's mood turns uglier by the minute, particularly when Braddock's father threatens to spring his son by force if necessary. Little's conscience gets the better of him. He agrees to become Price's new deputy. Together, they try in vain to persuade other men in town to side with them against Braddock's vigilantes and to convince the mayor to call in the National Guard for help. Alone against the mob, Price and Little form a barricade and prepare for the worst when their fellow townsmen suddenly join them in the street. 

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On the New Jersey Shore in the 1950s, two Italian immigrant brothers from Calabria own and operate a restaurant called "Paradise." One brother, Primo, is a brilliant, perfectionist chef who chafes under their few customers' expectations of "Americanized" Italian food. Their uncle's offer for them to return to Rome to help with his restaurant is growing in appeal to Primo. The younger brother, Secondo, is the restaurant manager, a man enamored of the possibilities presented by their new endeavor and life in America. Despite Secondo's efforts and Primo's magnificent food, their restaurant is failing. Secondo's struggles as a businessman render him unable to commit to his girlfriend Phyllis, and he has recently been sleeping with Gabriella, the wife of a competitor. Her husband's eponymous restaurant, "Pascal's", has succeeded despite (or perhaps due to) the mediocre, uninspired food served there. Desperate to keep Paradise afloat, Secondo asks Pascal for a loan. Pascal demurs, repeating a past offer for the brothers to work for him. This Secondo refuses to do; he and his brother want their own restaurant. In a seemingly generous gesture, Pascal insists that he will persuade popular Italian-American singer Louis Prima to dine at Paradise when in town, assuming the celebrity jazz singer's patronage will revitalize the brothers' business. Primo and Secondo plunge themselves into preparation for this "big night", spending their entire savings on food and inviting people (including a newspaper reporter) to join them in a magnificent feast centered around a timpano, a complicated baked pasta dish. Primo pours his heart into every dish, lavishing care and great expertise on the cooking. As they wait for Prima and his entourage to arrive, the diners indulge in the exquisite food and partake in a fabulous celebration. Hours pass, however, and it becomes apparent that the famous singer is not coming, although a reporter who came to cover the singer's appearance promises to ask his newspaper to send a food critic. Phyllis catches Secondo and Gabriella kissing and runs off to the beach. At Gabriella's insistence, Pascal admits that he never called Louis Prima, thus ending the party. Secondo follows Phyllis to the beach where they have a final quarrel. Primo and Secondo have a fiery, heart-wrenching argument, chafing at their mutual differences. In the wee hours of the morning, Pascal admits to Secondo that he set the brothers up for failure; not as revenge for Secondo's affair with Gabriella but because the brothers would have no choice but to return to Italy or work for Pascal. Secondo denies him, saying they will never work for him. As dawn breaks, Secondo silently cooks an omelette. When done, he divides it among three plates, giving one to Cristiano, their waiter, and eating one himself. Primo hesitantly enters, and Secondo hands him the last plate. They eat without speaking, and lay their arms across one another's shoulders. 

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Growing up, Evan Treborn and his friends, Lenny and siblings Kayleigh and Tommy Miller, suffered many severe psychological traumas that frequently caused Evan to blackout. These traumas include being coerced to take part in child pornography by Kayleigh and Tommy's father, George Miller (Eric Stoltz); being nearly strangled to death by his institutionalized father, Jason Treborn (Callum Keith Rennie), who is then killed in front of him by guards; accidentally killing a mother and her infant daughter while playing with dynamite with his friends; and seeing his dog burned alive by Tommy. Seven years later, while entertaining a girl in his dorm room, Evan discovers that when he reads from his adolescent journals, he can travel back in time and redo parts of his past. His time-traveling episodes account for the frequent blackouts he experienced as a child since those are the moments that his adult self occupied his consciousness, such as the moment his father strangled him when he realized that Evan shared his time-traveling affliction. However, there are consequences to his revised choices that dramatically alter his present life. For example, his time-line leads to alternative futures in which he finds himself, variously, as a college student in a fraternity, an inmate imprisoned for murdering Tommy, and a quadruple amputee. Eventually, he realizes that, even though his intentions to fix the past are good, his actions have unforeseen consequences, in which either he or at least one of his friends suffers horribly. Moreover, the assimilation of dozens of years' worth of new memories from the alternative timelines causes him brain damage and severe nosebleeds. He ultimately reaches the conclusion that he and his friends will never have good futures as long as he keeps altering the past, and he realizes that he is hurting them rather than helping. Evan travels back one final time to the day he first met Kayleigh as a child. He intentionally upsets her so that she and Tommy will choose to live with their mother, in a different neighborhood, instead of with their father when they divorce. As a result, they are not subjected to a destructive upbringing, do not grow up with Evan, and go on to have happy, successful lives. Evan awakens in a college dorm room, where Lenny is his roommate. As a test, he asks where Kayleigh is, to which Lenny responds "Who's Kayleigh?" Knowing that everything is all right this time, Evan burns his journals and videos to avoid altering the timeline ever again. Eight years later in New York City, Evan exits an office building and passes by Kayleigh on the street. Though a brief look of recognition passes over both of their faces, they both decide to keep walking. 

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High school senior Andie Walsh lives with her underemployed working class father Jack in a Chicago suburb. Andie's best friend, the outsider Phil "Duckie" Dale, is in love with her, but is afraid to tell her how he truly feels. In school, Duckie and Andie, along with their friends, are harassed and bullied by the arrogant "richie" kids, specifically Benny Hanson and her boyfriend Steff McKee, who finds Andie attractive and secretively resents having been rejected by her. While working after school at a record store called TRAX, Andie starts talking about her school's senior prom to her manager Iona, who advises Andie to go, despite not having a date. Blane McDonough, one of the preppy boys and Steff's best friend, starts talking to Andie and eventually asks her out. On the night of the date, Andie waits for Blane at TRAX, but he is late. Duckie enters and asks Andie to go out with him, but she ignores him. When Blane arrives, Duckie becomes upset and argues with Andie before storming off. Blane brings Andie to Steff's house party, where Andie is mistreated by the rich partygoers. Andie then brings Blane to a local nightclub, where Iona is sitting with Duckie, who is hostile toward Blane. After another argument with Duckie, Andie and Blane walk out of the club. Andie tells Blane that she wants to go home, but refuses to let him bring her there, admitting that she doesn't want him to see where she lives. She eventually allows him to drop her off and he asks her to the prom and they share their first kiss. Andie visits Iona the next day to talk about the date. Meanwhile, Blane, pressured by Steff and his rich friends, begins distancing himself from Andie. Jack presents Andie with a pink dress that he has bought for her. However, they begin to argue because Jack has been lying about going to a full-time job. Jack breaks down, revealing that he is still bitter and depressed about his wife having left him. At school, Andie confronts Blane for avoiding her and not returning her calls. When asked about the prom, he claims that he had already asked somebody else but had forgotten. Andie calls Blane a liar and tells him that he is ashamed of being seen with her because he knows his rich friends will not approve. Andie runs away as a teary-eyed Blane leaves, with Steff insulting Andie as he passes. Duckie overhears Steff and attacks him in the hallway. The two fight before teachers intervene. Andie goes to Iona, upset about what happened, and asks for Iona's old prom dress. Using the fabric from Iona's dress and the dress that her father had bought, Andie creates a pink prom dress. When she arrives at the prom, Andie has second thoughts about braving the crowd on her own until she sees Duckie. They reconcile and walk into the ballroom hand in hand. As a drunk Steff begins mocking the couple, Blane confronts him and finally realizes that Steff resents Andie because she had turned down his advances. Blane shakes Duckie's hand and apologizes to Andie, telling her that he always believed in her and that he will always love her, kissing her cheek before walking out. Duckie concedes that Blane is not like the other rich kids at school and advises Andie to go after him, joking that he will never take her to another prom if she does not. Duckie then sees a girl smiling at him, signaling him to come over and dance with her. Andie catches up with Blane in the parking lot and they kiss. 

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The Map of "New Switzerland" The novel opens with the family in the hold of a sailing ship, weathering a great storm. The ship's crew evacuate without them, and William and Elizabeth and their four children (Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Franz) are left to survive alone. As the ship tosses about, the father – William – prays that God will spare them. The ship survives the night and the family finds themselves within sight of a tropical desert island. The next morning, they decide to get to the island they can see beyond the reef. With much effort, they construct a vessel out of tubs. After they fill the tubs with food and ammunition and all other articles of value they can safely carry, they row toward the island. Two dogs from the ship named Turk and Juno swim beside them. The ship's cargo of livestock (including a cow, a donkey, two goats, six sheep, a ram, a pig, chickens, ducks, geese, and pigeons), guns and powder, carpentry tools, books, a disassembled pinnace and provisions have survived. Upon reaching the island, the family set up a makeshift camp. William knows that they must prepare for a long time on the island and his thoughts are as much on provisions for the future as for their immediate wants. William and his oldest son Fritz spend the next day exploring the island. The family spends the next few days securing themselves against hunger. William and Fritz make several trips to the ship in their efforts to bring ashore everything useful from the vessel. The domesticated animals on the ship are towed back to the island. There is also a great store of firearms and ammunition, hammocks for sleeping, carpenter's tools, lumber, cooking utensils, silverware, and dishes. Initially they construct a treehouse, but as time passes (and after Elizabeth is injured climbing the stairs down from it), they settle in a more permanent dwelling in part of a cave. Fritz rescues a young Englishwoman (Jenny Montrose) shipwrecked elsewhere on their island. The book covers more than ten years. William and older boys explore various environments and develop homes and gardens in various sites about the island. In the end, the father wonders if they will ever again see the rest of humanity. Eventually a British ship that is in search of Jenny Montrose anchors near the island and is discovered by the family. The captain is given the journal containing the story of their life on the island which is eventually published. Several members of the family choose to continue to live tranquilly on their island while several of them return to Europe with the British. 

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Robbie Hart is a wedding singer in Ridgefield, New Jersey in 1985, whose own wedding to his fiancée Linda is approaching. He meets and befriends Julia Sullivan, a new waitress at the reception hall where he works, and promises to sing at her wedding, though her fiancé, businessman and bond investor Glenn Gulia, has yet to set a date. On Robbie's wedding day, his sister Kate informs him as he waits at the altar that Linda has changed her mind about the wedding, leaving him emotionally devastated and humiliated. Later that day, Linda visits Robbie and reveals that she fell in love with him for his ambitions of being a rock star, and hates the idea of being married to just a wedding singer. Robbie sinks into depression, causing his friends and family to be concerned. His best friend Sammy convinces him to return to work, but he gives a disastrous performance, and decides to give up wedding gigs and reneges on his promise to sing for Julia when Glenn finally sets a date. However, Julia convinces him to help her with the planning and their friendship blossoms. As Robbie spends time with Julia, he begins to realize just how shallow Linda is. During a double date with Julia, Glenn, and Julia's cousin Holly, Robbie learns from Glenn that he cheats on Julia frequently and plans to continue after they are married. Julia and Robbie are increasingly confused by their deepening feelings for each other. When Holly tells Robbie that Julia is marrying Glenn for his money, he unsuccessfully pursues a job at a bank. Julia is dismayed at his materialism, and when he accuses her of the same, she becomes angry with him. Depressed, he decides to follow Sammy's example of only having shallow relationships with women, in response to which Sammy confides that he is unhappy, and encourages Robbie to tell Julia how he feels. Meanwhile, Julia confides in her mother that she has fallen out of love with Glenn and has developed feelings for Robbie, and bursts into tears thinking about becoming "Mrs. Julia Gulia". Robbie arrives to declare his feelings, and sees her through her bedroom window in her wedding dress, where she is happily looking in a mirror pretending she has just married Robbie, but Robbie assumes she is thinking of Glenn. Heartbroken, Robbie leaves to get drunk and finds Glenn in the midst of his pre-wedding bachelor party, arm in arm with another woman. After a heated exchange, Glenn punches Robbie and mocks him. Robbie stumbles home to find Linda waiting for him wanting to reconcile, and passes out. The following morning, she answers the door and introduces herself as his fiancee to a crestfallen Julia. She runs to Glenn, who is sleeping off the events of the previous night, and tells him she wants to be married immediately. He happily offers to take her to Las Vegas. Robbie awakens and, after shaking off his hangover from the previous night, rejects Linda's shallow reconciliation and kicks her out. At the 50th wedding anniversary party of his neighbor Rosie, to whom he has been giving singing lessons, he realizes he wants to grow old with Julia and, with Rosie's encouragement, he decides to pursue her. Just then, Holly arrives and informs him of Julia's encounter with Linda, so Robbie rushes to the airport and gets a first class ticket to Las Vegas. After telling his story to his empathetic fellow passengers, which include Billy Idol, he learns that Glenn and Julia are on the same flight. With the help of Billy and the flight crew, over the loudspeaker, he sings a song he has written called "Grow Old With You", dedicated to Julia. As Robbie enters the main cabin singing, Glenn tries to assault him only to be thwarted and shoved into a lavatory by the flight attendants with assistance from Billy and a large fan. Robbie and Julia admit their love for each other, and share a kiss. Billy, impressed by Robbie's song, offers to tell his record company executives about him. Later, Robbie and Julia are married, and Robbie's bandmates perform at their wedding. 

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In this Elseworlds story, Superman and the Justice League abandon their roles as superheroes after the rise and strong public support of a superhero named Magog, who has no qualms about killing—notably the Joker, on his way to trial for the mass murder of the Daily Planet staff, including Lois Lane. In the ensuing years, a newer generation of superpowered metahumans arise; they engage each other in destructive battles with little distinction between "heroes" and "villains." The narrator, a minister named Norman McCay, receives apocalyptic visions of the future from a dying Wesley Dodds. The Spectre appears to McCay and recruits him to help pass judgment on the approaching superhuman apocalypse. An attack on the Parasite, led by Magog, goes awry when Parasite tears open Captain Atom. As a result, much of the American Midwest is irradiated, killing millions and destroying a large portion of the United States's food production.Kingdom Come #1 (May 1996) Coaxed back into action by Wonder Woman, Superman returns to Metropolis and re-forms the Justice League. He recruits new heroes along with older ones. The most prominent exception is the Batman, who resents Superman for leaving the world 10 years ago. Batman warns Superman that his idealist notions are outdated and his interference will only exacerbate the world's problems, insisting that strategy is required, not force. In response to Superman's Justice League, Batman activates his network of agents called the "Outsiders", made up largely of the younger second and third-generation heroes, while trusted veterans, such as Green Arrow and Blue Beetle, are chosen as lieutenants. Lex Luthor has organized the "Mankind Liberation Front". The MLF is secretly a group of Golden Age villains, including Catwoman, the Riddler, and Vandal Savage, as well as third-generation villains like Ra's al Ghul's successor, Ibn al Xu'ffasch, who is Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul's son. The MLF works to take control of the world from the heroes.Kingdom Come #2 (June 1996) Superman's Justice League gathers more captives than converts, and his prison (nicknamed "the Gulag") is filled to capacity almost as soon as it is built. Superman works to persuade the inmates that their methods are wrong- headed and dangerous, but his entreaties fall upon deaf ears. With hostile heroes and villains locked up together, pressure builds. Meanwhile, Superman learns that Wonder Woman's ardent militant stance may be influenced by her recent exile from Paradise Island: in the eyes of the Amazons, her mission to bring peace to the outside world has failed, and she has thus been stripped of her royalty. Batman and his Outsiders seem to enter into an alliance with the MLF as a united front against the Justice League. Luthor plans to exacerbate the conflict between the League and the inmates of the Gulag; the ensuing chaos will afford Luthor an opportunity to seize power. Batman uses the Martian Manhunter to discover that an adult Billy Batson is under Luthor's control. Batson, as Captain Marvel, is the only metahuman capable of matching Superman's power. When the Gulag's inmates riot and kill Captain Comet, Luthor unwittingly reveals to Batman he intends to use the brainwashed Batson to break open the Gulag. Batman's forces ambush Luthor and his conspirators, but they are unable to restrain Batson, who transforms into Marvel and flies off. While Wonder Woman leads the Justice League to the superhuman prison riot, Superman confronts Batman. Batman tries to justify inaction, saying the world would be better off if all the metahumans destroyed each other. Superman points out that if all human life is sacred, then logically that includes superhuman life. Superman knows that Batman will act, because his entire crimefighting life is based upon the desire to prevent the loss of human life.Kingdom Come #3 (July 1996) Moved by Superman's sentiments, Batman tells Superman that Captain Marvel is under Luthor's control and is on the way to the Gulag. Superman races to the Gulag, but upon arrival is struck down by Captain Marvel. The Gulag is breached, freeing the population, and inciting war between Wonder Woman's Justice League and the metahuman prisoners. The Spectre and Norman look on as Wonder Woman's League engages with the prisoners and Superman is kept at bay by Captain Marvel. Batman's army arrives on site as an intervening third party. Batman is unable to stop Wonder Woman from killing the supervillain Von Bach, which increases the fury of the riot. As conditions worsen, United Nations Secretary General Wyrmwood authorizes the deployment of three tactical nuclear warheads, hardened against metahuman powers. In the middle of their fight, Batman and Wonder Woman see the incoming stealth bombers piloted by the Blackhawk Squadron. They break off fighting and manage to stop two bombs, but miss the third. Captain Marvel uses his magic lightning bolt as a weapon against Superman. Superman manages to grab Marvel and allow the bolt to transform him into Billy. Holding Batson's mouth shut, Superman tells him he is going to stop the remaining bomb, and Batson must make a choice: either stop Superman and allow the warhead to kill all the metahumans, or let Superman stop the bomb and allow the metahumans' war to engulf the world. Superman tells Batson he must be the one to make this decision, as he is the only one who lives in both worlds: a man (as Batson) and a god (as Marvel). Batson, his mind now clear of Luthor's influence, turns back into Captain Marvel. He flings Superman to the ground and flies after the missile. Marvel intercepts the missile and shouts "Shazam!" three times in rapid succession, detonating the bomb prematurely, and killing Batson in the process. Despite Marvel's sacrifice, most of the metahumans are obliterated in the explosion. Superman is unharmed, but does not realize that there are any other survivors. Enraged at the tremendous loss of life, Superman flies to the U.N. Building and threatens to bring it down atop the delegates as punishment for the massacre. The surviving metahumans arrive, but McCay is the one who talks him down, pointing out how his appearance and behavior are exactly the sort of reasons that normal humans fear the superpowered. Superman immediately ceases his rampage. He is handed Captain Marvel's cape, and tells the U.N. that he will use his wisdom to guide, rather than lead, humankind. Superman ties Captain Marvel's cape to a flagpole and raises it among the flags of the member nations of the U.N., suggesting that this role of guidance will be more political and global in nature than the classic crime-busting vigilantism of the past.Kingdom Come #4 (August 1996) In the epilogue, the heroes strive to become fully integrated members of the communities. Wonder Woman's exile from Paradise Island ends, and she becomes an ambassador for super-humanity, taking the survivors of the Gulag to Paradise Island for rehabilitation. Batman abandons his crusade and becomes a healer, rebuilding his mansion as a hospital to care for those wounded by the destruction of the Gulag. He reconciles with both Dick Grayson/Red Robin and his son, Ibn al Xu'ffasch. Superman begins the task of restoring the Midwestern farmlands devastated in Magog's attempt to capture the Parasite. He comes to terms with his past as Clark Kent by accepting a pair of glasses from Wonder Woman, and shares a kiss with her before she returns to Paradise Island. Norman McCay resumes pastorship of his congregation, preaching a message of hope for humanity. Among the congregation is Jim Corrigan, the Spectre's human host. 

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Set in the Toronto, Ontario neighbourhood of Kensington Market, the series is about Curtis (Don McKellar), a television addict who refuses to leave his apartment, and his friends Nathan (Daniel MacIvor), Hope (Molly Parker) and Newbie (Callum Keith Rennie)."Twitch City: Is Canada Ready?". Calgary Herald, January 15, 1998. McKellar was also one of the show's creators. In the first episode, Nathan is sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food. The homeless man was played by Al Waxman, who had been the star of the 1970s sitcom King of Kensington, although the producers claimed that they did not intend for the homeless man to be seen as the same character."Curtis's (offbeat) charm Don McKellar's cereal-crunching TV addict veges at the centre of an off-kilter new sitcom". The Globe and Mail, January 17, 1998. Nathan remained in prison throughout the run of the series; the first episode of the second season opened with an Oz parody in which he criticized the hip hop-inspired slam poetry of his cellmate."Riveting world of Oz returns to Showcase Friday". Ottawa Citizen, August 25, 1999. Throughout the series, Curtis and Hope's ongoing attempts to find a new roommate to replace Nathan provide one of the show's major plot threads. In one episode, Curtis rents Nathan's room to a mysterious businessman who uses it to store drugged cookies, while in another, Hope unwittingly rents it to two Neo-Nazis she mistakes for a gay couple. That episode includes a Nazi rally which features all four members of the rock band Sloan among the extras. At the end of the episode, the two Nazi roommates renounce Nazism and promptly kiss each other, vindicating Hope's judgement. Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney (both from The Kids in the Hall) also starred in the series as Rex Reilly, the Jerry Springer-like host of Curtis' favourite TV talk show. McCulloch played Reilly in the first season, and McKinney played him in the second. The change in Reilly's appearance is explained in his autobiography, Tyrannosaurus Rex, which refers to his "on-air cranium transplant." Guest stars on the series included Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom McCamus, Valerie Buhagiar, Charmion King, Kenneth Welsh, Hugh Dillon, Kim Mitchell, Stefan Brogren, John L'Ecuyer and Joyce DeWitt. DeWitt plays herself as a guest on The Rex Reilly Show, meeting lookalikes in an episode devoted to the theme "I Look Like Joyce DeWitt". 

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Handsome young artist Quentin Collins arrives at his newly inherited estate of Collinwood with his beautiful wife Tracy. They meet the housekeeper Carlotta Drake and the caretaker Gerard Stiles. Quentin happens upon a 19th-century portrait of a blonde woman with captivating green eyes that seem to mesmerize him. Carlotta informs him that the woman is Angelique, who had lived there over 100 years earlier. The Collins' friends Alex and Claire Jenkins, who have co-written several successful horror novels, move into a cottage on the estate. Quentin soon begins to be troubled by startling visions and haunting dreams about one of his ancestors, Charles Collins, and his ancestor's mistress Angelique—who had been hanged as a witch in a past century. Carlotta eventually reveals to Quentin that she is the reincarnation of Sarah Castle, a little girl who had lived at Collinwood over 150 years ago, and that Quentin himself is the reincarnation of Charles Collins. Charles had had an affair with Angelique, wife of his brother Gabriel, resulting in her being hanged—and Charles being sealed alive in the family crypt with Angelique's corpse. On a trip to New York, the Jenkinses discover a painting of Charles Collins, which bears an uncanny resemblance to Quentin. Convinced that their friends are in grave danger, the couple hurry home to Collinwood, where they are attacked by the ghost of Angelique. Meanwhile, Quentin has become possessed by the spirit of Charles Collins, and attempts to drown Tracy in a disused swimming pool on the estate. Alex and Claire arrive in time to revive her, but Quentin, having no memory of his actions, refuses to believe their wild tale. Carlotta and Gerard conspire to eliminate Quentin's loved ones. Quentin, seeing the scratches on his wrist where Tracy had tried to fend him off, realizes the truth of Alex's warning and rushes to rescue his friends. Gerard has managed to take Tracy prisoner (despite his having been shot in the face by Claire), and Quentin fights with him high atop a train trestle. As Gerard slashes Quentin's cheek with a knife, creating a gash in his left cheek that looks remarkably like the one Charles Collins had, Tracy rushes to try to save her husband. She strikes Gerard with a nearby plank, knocking him off Quentin and onto the edge of the trestle. He teeters on the edge for a moment, then plunges to his death after Tracy pushes him. The group rush back to Collinswood to confront Carlotta. As they arrive, she jumps from the top of the house when she sees the ghostly Angelique beckon her from below. In the end, the two couples prepare to leave Collinwood forever. Alex and Claire leave first, with Quentin and Tracy following. However, instead of driving away, Quentin returns to the house, saying he intends to retrieve some canvases. When he fails to come back, Tracy follows, only to find him now completely possessed by Charles Collins. Angelique enters the room, reborn in the flesh. The camera freezes on Tracy's face as she begins to scream, as Quentin and Angelique advance on her. A UPI news wire shown at the end reveals that Alex and Claire Jenkins have been killed in a car accident. Witnesses reported seeing a ghostly fog filling the car as it veered off the road. 

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Dr. Anton Phibes, a famous concert organist and expert in theology and music, is thought to have been killed in a car crash in Switzerland in 1921, while racing home upon hearing of the death of his beloved wife, Victoria, during surgery. Phibes survived the crash, but he was horribly scarred and left unable to speak. He remakes his face with prosthetics and uses his knowledge of acoustics to regain his voice. Resurfacing secretly in London in 1925, Phibes believes that his wife was a victim of incompetence on the part of the doctors, and he begins elaborate plans to kill those who he believes are guilty for her death. Aided in his quest for vengeance by his beautiful and silent female assistant Vulnavia, Phibes uses the ten plagues of Egypt as his inspiration, wearing an amulet with Hebrew letters corresponding with each plague as he conducts the murders. After three doctors have been killed, Inspector Trout, a detective from Scotland Yard, learns that they all had worked under the direction of Dr. Vesalius, who tells him the deceased had been on his team when treating Victoria, as were four other doctors and one nurse. After the third doctor is murdered, Trout discovers one of Phibes' amulets (torn off during a struggle) at the scene, taking it first to the jeweler who made it and then to a rabbi to learn its meaning. Believing Phibes may still be alive, Trout and Vesalius go to the Phibes mausoleum at Highgate Cemetery and find a box of ashes in Phibes' coffin, but Trout decides they are probably the remains of Phibes' chauffeur. Victoria's coffin is found to be empty. The police are unable to prevent Phibes from killing the remaining members of Vesalius' team and then focus their efforts on protecting the doctor himself. Phibes kidnaps Vesalius' son Lem, then calls Vesalius and tells him to come alone to his mansion on Maldene Square if he wants to save his son. Trout advises against it, but Vesalius knocks the inspector unconscious, then races to Phibes' mansion, where he confronts him. Vesalius finds his son under anesthesia and prepped for surgery. Phibes has implanted a small key near the boy's heart that will unlock his restraints and Vesalius has to surgically remove the key within six minutes (the same time Victoria was on the operating table) to release his son before acid from a container above Lem's head is released and destroys his face. Vesalius succeeds and moves the table out of the way. However, Vulnavia, who has been ordered to destroy Phibes' mechanical creations, is surprised by Trout and his assistant; backing away, she is sprayed with the acid and apparently killed. Convinced that he has accomplished his vendetta, Phibes retreats to the basement to inter himself in a stone sarcophagus containing the embalmed body of his wife. He drains his blood, replacing it with embalming fluid, and the coffin's inlaid stone lid slides into place, completely concealing it. Trout and the police arrive and realise that Phibes is nowhere to be found. They recall that the "final curse" was darkness. 

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The film is set in an Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan in 1968. 

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Staff Sgt. Raphael "Gingy" Moked is ordered by his company commander, Captain Shamgar, to retrieve Sergio Constanza, a deserter from reserve service. On his way he meets his girlfriend Yaeli and offers to talk to her father, Victor Hasson, to get a blessing for their relationship. Hasson gives his blessing, believing that Moked came for his older daughter Shifra, but throws him out of the house after finding out this was not so. Yaeli does not wish to part from Moked, and sneaks into a suitcase in his jeep. Meanwhile, Constanza tricks several other gamblers into losing thousands of dollars, which he intends to use to repay a debt to Mr. Hasson. The gamblers find out about the plot however, which leaves Sergio with no choice but to run away to the army with Moked. Moked and Constanza make it to a military camp in the Sinai, and Mr. Hasson follows them, posing as Constanza at the gate to get admission. When he is not allowed into the base, he steals a front loader to break in. Meanwhile, Moked finds out that Yaeli came with them, and Constanza comes up with a plot to make her an authorized visitor, by claiming that she is a singer/entertainer sent from the Education Corps. Mr. Hasson arrives at the base with the loader, and is caught by the soldiers in a fishing net. Shamgar reports the incident to the brigadier. Shamgar then meets with Yaeli, who calls herself "Bule-Bule", in private and they start dancing African dances half-nude, as she attempts to persuade him that she's an entertainer. As the brigadier is about to arrive, Moked releases Mr. Hasson, who is forced to temporarily reconcile with Constanza. The brigadier finds Shamgar dancing alone and making noises, deems him insane, and takes him away in his helicopter, leaving Moked temporarily in command of the outpost. It is discovered that Mr. Hasson is an excellent cook. He transforms the military kitchen into a restaurant-like establishment, and then denies Constanza access. In revenge, Constanza tricks Hasson into buying a plot of nearby desert land, which Hasson believes to be an oil field, from him as payment of the debt. Constanza then tries to help Moked by matching one of the soldiers, Wasserman, with Yaeli's older sister, Shifra. But when Shifra arrives at the base, she isn't impressed with Wasserman, but falls in love with Constanza instead. Hasson leaves the base to catch fish for the soldiers' dinners, but accidentally crosses the border into Egypt and is taken captive by an Egyptian patrol. While in captivity, Victor becomes friends with the Egyptian commanding officer, who grew up in the same area as him. In the meantime, the Israeli soldiers plan a rescue mission to return the captured Hasson. Although the mission, dubbed "Operation Waldheim" doesn't go as planned, Gingy and Constanza, posing as UN observers, succeed in returning Hasson and returning him to the base. When Hasson returns to the base, he discovers that Sergio had conned him once again, and that the plot of land he bought from him wasn't really an oil field at all. Out of nowhere, Capt. Shamgar reappears, still searching for "Bule-Bule". He falls into a pit dug by Hasson on the plot of land, causing an oil geyser to appear and revealing the presence of oil in the land after all. The film ends with Hasson, Moked and Constanza, now his sons-in-law, selling the oil from the back of a truck in Tel Aviv, early in the morning. 

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Yu Miri (Esumi) is a writer who's just become pregnant by her married lover. When she decides to keep the baby without his help, her ex-boyfriend Yutaka (Toyokawa), now struggling with terminal cancer, decides to help raise him, pledging to "live long enough to hear him say my name." 

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In medieval Italy, Phillipe Gaston, a thief known as "The Mouse", escapes from the Bishop of Aquila's dungeons right before execution. He is recaptured at an inn by the Bishop's guards, led by Captain Marquet. However, the former captain, Etienne Navarre, shows up and defeats Marquet and the guards. He rides off with Phillipe while his hawk scatters other guards along the way. Navarre, accompanied by Phillipe, stay the night at a farmer's barn. Phillipe narrowly escapes from the farmer's attempt on his life when an enormous black wolf emerges and kills the farmer. Navarre has disappeared from the barn. A mysterious young woman appears and accompanies the wolf. Navarre reveals his intention to kill the Bishop and asks Phillipe to help him get inside Aquila. Phillipe refuses to help him, and Navarre ties the unwilling Phillipe to a tree that night. Phillipe escapes by tricking the mysterious woman into untying him, but he is soon captured by the Bishop's guards. The guards set up an ambush to capture Navarre as well. In the ambush, Navarre and his hawk are each hit by a crossbow bolt, yet he manages to defeat the Bishop's guards and save Phillipe. The wounded Navarre makes Phillipe take the dying hawk and ride his horse to a monk's (Imperius's) ruined castle for help. The hawk is sequestered in a room, but a curious Phillipe picks the lock and finds the mysterious woman inside, her chest also struck with a bolt. After tending to her wound, Imperius explains that she is Isabeau of Anjou. She and Navarre were cursed by the Bishop because she refused the Bishop's love, and their secret vows were leaked to the Bishop by Imperius in a drunken confession. The Satanic curse turns Isabeau into a hawk by day and Navarre a wolf by night so that despite being always together, they are eternally apart. When Navarre catches up in the morning, Imperius tells him that the curse can be broken if the couple face the Bishop together as humans on "a day without a night and a night without a day". Navarre dismisses Imperius as an old drunk, and continues his way to Aquila intent on simply killing the Bishop. Phillipe decides to leave with Navarre and "Ladyhawke". After Isabeau's perilous encounter with Cezar the wolf trapper, and Phillipe saving the transformed Navarre-wolf from freezing in an icy river, Phillipe succeeds in persuading the couple to break the curse. At night, Imperius and Isabeau smuggle the Navarre-wolf into Aquila while Phillipe dives into the sewers to get inside the cathedral. Unable to see any divine sign on the day that he and Isabeau are to appear in the flesh together, Navarre reverts to his original plan to kill the Bishop. He convinces Imperius to euthanize the hawk should the cathedral bells ring, which would mean he had failed. Phillipe infiltrates the cathedral and unlocks the doors. Navarre rides in and duels with Marquet. Amid the bout, Navarre sees a solar eclipse through a high window and realizes the curse really can be broken. He tries to get back to Imperius but fails to keep the guards from ringing the bell. Despairing that Imperius has killed Isabeau, he continues his fight and eventually kills Marquet. As Navarre is about to kill the Bishop, Isabeau enters the cathedral and stops him. Together they face the Bishop and break the curse. The maddened Bishop tries to kill Isabeau, only to die by Navarre's sword instead. Isabeau and Navarre finally embrace in joy. 

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